Bengal jute mill workers to strike

Kolkata, Jan 4 (UNI) About 2.5 lakh Jute mill workers in West Bengal will go for an indefinite strike from tomorrow to press for various demands, including payment of dearness allowance dues and revision of wages.

The strike, expected to affect 53 mills, has been called by 20 trade unions today as a tripartite meeting, convened by Labour Minister Mrinal Banerjee failed to break the deadlock.

The other demands of the jute mill employees are payement of bonus and ESI facilities.

"We are going ahead with the strike from tomorrow as the managements declined to accept our minimum demands," Mr Gobinda Guha, General Secretary of the CITU-backed Bengal Chatkol Mazdoor Union said after the meeting.

Blaming the managements for forcing the workers to stop work, Mr Guha had said the strike could have been avoided even if the workers were paid dearness allowance dues in instalments.

The last strike in the jute industry continued for nine days in 2004 continued before the unions agreed to productivity-linked wages.

UNI