Guest workers holidaying, MSMEs fingers crossed

COIMBATORE: Migrant workers, the lifeline of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in Coimbatore and Tirupur, are on an extended holiday following Deepavali amid the crisis in the industrial sector.

Though the workers being absent for a long time during this time of the year is nothing unusual, the workers who have left the textile hub of Tirupur for the festival are not likely to return anytime soon and they are in wait and watch mode to see the aftermath of the prevailing crisis in the industrial sector.

MSMEs across Tamil Nadu have announced an indefinite strike from December 18 demanding cuts in power tariffs. In view of the strike, the workers from North Indian states are reluctant to return, fearing the consequences of a halt in production.

The ailing MSMEs have also announced a human chain protest across the state on December 4, demanding reduction in hiked fixed charges and cancelling out the peak hour consumption charges introduced for Low Tension (LT) consumers.

“Since the MSME sector is in protest mode, the workers are sceptical about returning to work. Perhaps they are worried about production being stopped due to the strike within days after they come a long way from their native places,” say industrialists.

Tirupur produces over 50 per cent of knitwear garments in India, while hiring more than six lakh labourers directly and four lakh labourers indirectly. The majority of workers are migrants from Bihar, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Besides the migrants, a section of workers from Southern districts have decided to do farming in the wake of the harvest season.

Nevertheless, the absence of workers has not impacted the textile units to a greater extent due to low demands from global markets.

“Only the migrant labourers, who have settled down in Tirupur with their families, have returned after the festival in order to send their children to schools. The industries have started production with minimal workforce. Since the orders have dropped drastically by 70 per cent due to multiple factors including the global economic slowdown, we could manage without any problems. It may take nearly two years for the large volumes of stagnant manufactured apparel to be sold out. Hence, absenteeism by workers doesn’t cause an impact,” said MP Muthurathinam, president of Tirupur Exporters and Manufacturers Association (TEAMA).

Industrialists too echoed the opinion that due to the worsening ground scenario, the labour crisis is manageable even if the workers return after a month.

“A few years ago, the industrialists would go out of their way to bring back workers if there was a delay in their return. But this time the textile units have not made any attempts to either reach them out or arrange for transportation to bring them back. The apparel business was poor during Deepavali and the overseas market also continues to be down,” he added.

Similar to the textile sector, upto 85 per cent of workers in the foundry sector constitute the migrant workforce, whereas the native workers are mostly involved in technical work.

“The business dipped by 20 per cent this year as compared to last year due to unknown reasons. We hope for things to pick up only after January next year due to long holidays in the European market during Christmas and New Year, which will be followed by Pongal in Tamil Nadu,” said C Sivakumar, president of Coimbatore, Tirupur district Micro and Cottage Entrepreneur Association (COTMA).

The MSME sector is hopeful that the state government will address their issues before the situation worsens and expects a turnaround of things soon.