Plea to drop charges against garment unit chiefs

Tirupur, Jun 16 (UNI) The Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) today urged Tamil Nadu Labour Minister T M Anbarasan to direct the Labour Department to drop the charges levelled against the Managing Directors and Managers of the garment export units for allegedly providing overtime work to the employees.

In a letter to the minister, TEA President A Sakthivel said more than 1,500 garment export units were functioning in Tirupur. In 2007-08, the exports were Rs 9,950 crore as against Rs 11,000 crore in 2006-07. The textile industry here faced a shortage of 50,000 workforce and was in crisis due to Rupee appreciation.

The letter stated that the act of the department officials had affected the morale of the units, which were struggling due Rupee appreciation and loss of orders. He pointed out that no worker had complained against the management for giving overtime and in fact, the overtime was given with the concurrence of the workers.

UNI KS SJ 1651