'Prolonged labour unrest weakening the Coir sector'

The prolonged labour unrest against mechanisation has led to the weakening of  the coir industry, said Anathalavattom Anandan during his inaugural speech at the national symposium on the ‘Challenges and Prospects of the Coir Industry’, organised at the International Coir Expo held here on Monday.

Earlier, the labour strikes had been against the loss of employment opportunities. But the coir industry must bring about changes in the labour culture in accordance with the times.

While in the 1950s the wage was 50 paise, now it is `230, said Anathalavattom.

The technical session was inaugurated by Harmander Singh, Director of Industries and Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu. Singh highlighted the challenges being faced by the coir industry in the light of increasing labour shortage and cost of raw materials.

“Even while the labour cost and the cost of raw materials have increased, the selling price has not increased proportionately leading to a shortage of funds in the industry,” he said.


Singh said that the coir industry must promote its environment friendly and ecologically safe character. “Not only the Coir Board, but also the private players in the industry must focus on the ecological advantage of coir.  Ecologically safe alternatives are the need of the hour,” he said.Value addition, customisation of products, cost-effective technologies and products, large-scale production

and efficient delivery systems are among the other aspects highlighted at the function.