Foundry strike started
Nearly 600 small and tiny foundries downed shutters here on Monday responding to the call of the Coimbatore Tiny and Small Foundry Owners’ Association for an indefinite strike.The association has demanded immediate steps by the Central and State Governments to control raw material prices as the cost of some of the materials such as pig iron, coke and scrap prices have shot up tremendously during the last three or four months.According to the association secretary, P. Udayakumar, with the indefinite strike the production loss in the units is about 2,000 tonnes a day worth nearly Rs. 7 crore. About two lakh workers are employed in these units. The revenue loss to the Government is estimated to be Rs. 40 lakh a day.Castings produced in the foundries are the basic material used by the engineering units here to manufacture products such as pumpsets.In a move to support the strike by the small foundries, members of the Tamil Nadu Pumps and Spares Manufacturers’ Association also stopped production for a day on Monday. Most of its members are tiny and small pumpset manufacturers.Its president, R. Kalyanasundaram, said that the basic raw material for the pumpset units was castings. During the last three months the casting prices had gone up slightly.However, the foundries should increase the prices further to meet their production cost. And, the engineering units would not be able to pay higher rates for the castings. Usually, sale of pumpsets declined in the rainy season. The pumpset manufacturers would not be able to pay more for the castings when the markets were slow.
In a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Coimbatore MP, K. Subbarayan, said the Government should take steps to supply the raw materials through TANTISCO.The Coimbatore District General Engineering and Mechanical Workers Union, affiliated to the CITU, said in a release that the small and tiny foundries provided employment to a large number of workers. These units were affected by the spiralling raw material prices. Hence, the Central and State Governments should take immediate steps to bring down the costs.The workers would also join the strike if no solution was found to the problem faced by the foundries, it warned.
