After August unrest, Surat textile units brace for fresh wave of stir

Embroidery workers across Surat textile units are threatening to go on a protest march on November 1 unless their long-pending demands regarding working hours, overtime wages and weekly offs are met.

Since a demonstration on the streets on August 16 by workers at a unit in Amroli area of Surat, the demand has been simmering. That demonstration had turned violent and spread gradually over the next month to other units and workers across the city, which is the hub of the synthetic textiles industry. Police investigations had later found discontent brewing on WhatsApp groups and social media.

Three FIRs were lodged following the August incidents and 26 people detained on charges of rioting, among others. The factories restarted only after police deployment.

The workers are demanding what was promised to them under a law passed by Gujarat last year, after amending the Factories Act 1948. It called for eight-hour work shifts, with overtime to be paid after that; a cap of 48 hours a week of work; raised overtime hours to 125 from 75 per quarter; and specified double wages for the overtime hours. If they finished their weekly quota of shifts, they could take the remaining days off, the new law says.

However, the textile unit owners have been reluctant to implement the provisions.

The August agitation was a blow to the Surat textile industry, as it was just getting back on its feet after workers who had left for their home states, in the wake of the LPG shortage following the start of the US-Iran war in February, returned to work.

The November protest threatens their sales at a time when the market is picking up for Diwali festivities.

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However, despite several meetings with the Collector and Labour Department, a solution has not been found to the workers’ demands. On Tuesday, the workers’ representatives reached out to the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, seeking a mediation with unit owners.

The Congress’s Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the Majoor Mahajan Sangh and Surat Textile Market Labour Union have extended their support to the workers for the November 1 strike.

After the last protest, Deputy Labour Commissioner S S Dubey issued a circular to the Textile Embroidery Jobwork Association Surat – an organisation of embroidery machine owners and unit operators – dated September 30, to follow the Code on Wages 2019, Codes on Social Security 2020, Operational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020, and Industrial Relations Code 2020 – framed to ensure fair wages, dignity, social and financial security, and stability for workers.

Surat District Collector Tejas Parmar cited this circular to The Indian Express, adding: “There are around 10 lakh people in Surat working with embroidery units… If the textile embroidery association does not follow the codes and we receive complaints against any factory, we will take action. Till now, we have not received any complaint from the workers, and if they have any issues, we are ready to solve them.”

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An embroidery unit owner, Ashwin Sitapara, said it is difficult for them to meet the new labour law requirements. “I have been running an embroidery unit at Anjana Industrial Estate for 10 years. Workers here have been deployed for 12-hour shifts, since the start. It is very difficult for us to run an eight-hour shift… Our machinery costs Rs 50 lakh-80 lakh, and we have made heavy investments. We face losses if we keep production shut,” Sitapara said, adding that it is difficult to find additional labour to hire.

Surat district Textile Marketing Transport Labour Union spokesperson Shaan Khan said, “Unit owners make workers labour for 12 hours a day with no overtime and no paid weekly off. The workers are human; their bodies require rest, and they are not paid as per their work.”

The issue of paid weekly offs and eight-hour shifts first started in 2018, Khan said. “We held demonstrations at that time too and carried out meetings with the embroidery unit owner association. They gave assurance but no action was taken, and the issue kept brewing. Now there is an outburst, so the protest has started again. We will not rest till the matter is resolved and demands fulfilled.”

Khan gave the example of an embroidery unit in Udhna that, he said, had accepted the union’s demand for weekly offs on Sundays, with two paid offs in a month. “The workers have accepted that decision,” he said.

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Six held for ‘intimidating’ unit owners

Surat: Six persons were arrested in connection with two FIRs registered on charges of criminal intimidation and extortion following incidents alleged to be related to the unrest at the embroidery units in Surat’s Salabatpura and Udhna, police said. The FIRs were registered on Wednesday.

In one of the FIRs, Ashwin Sitapara, the owner of an embroidery unit at Anjana Industrial Estate, alleged that an autorickshaw driver/vlogger, Rajesh Sharma, demanded Rs 50,000 from him after threatening to upload videos of his factory, which was allegedly running on a Sunday and violating labour laws.

In another incident, Haresh Khunt, an embroidery unit owner in Udhna, alleged one of his employees, whom he had fired for allegedly taking videos of a “monopoly design”, threatened him, demanding to be reinstated along with a payment of Rs 50,000.

Khunt lodged a complaint against 13 people, including Gauda and Dubey.

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Meanwhile, Dubey, a  union leader, said: “On Wednesday, Gauda was expelled from the job. We went to the factory and requested the unit owner to resolve the issue and give Gauda his job back. An argument took place between us and then we left. These are baseless allegations.”