Since the existing four-year wage agreement is about to end in January, various textile associations in the knitwear town of Tirupur have decided to hold joint negotiations with the labour unions to fix revised monthly wages.

Till now, South India Hosiery Manufacturers’ Association (SIHMA) and a few other associations were jointly signing a wage pact with labour unions and Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) along with a few other associations used to sign a separate agreement. However, now all these associations plan to ink a joint wage pact to negotiate with the labour unions in a better way and also to bring equality in the wage scales across the sector.

A preliminary meeting of representatives of SIHMA, Tirupur Exporters’ Association and four other associations was organised recently to explore the possibilities. These associations have also asked leading trade unions such as CITU, AITUC, MLF, LPF, ATP and INTUC to come up with a joint set of demands before beginning the actual wage revision talks.

Trade unions on the other hand are looking forward to a considerable rise in monthly wages along with other benefits like house rent and medical allowance. www.tea-india.org