The power loom owners have ended their 26-day-long strike following the resolution of their payment issues with the textile manufacturers.

More than 2 lakh power looms in Coimbatore and Tirupur went on an indefinite strike on January 28 over failure to implement the wage agreement of 2014. They claimed that the textile manufacturers had given the revised wages for the first three months, but reverted to the old wages. The 26-day-long strike resulted in production loss of nearly Rs.1,300 crores.

Three rounds of talks, initiated by the two district collectors, failed to settle the issue. This was followed by another round of talks today, held in the presence of state ministers, S.P. Velumani and M.S.M Anandan, district collectors Archana Patnaik and Jayanthi, and senior labour department officials.

At the end of the talks, the manufacturers agreed to pay the revised wages, with a 27 percent increase for Palladam grade, and 30 percent increase for Somanur grade.

The power loom unit owners have said that they will announce the end of the strike after consulting with the office bearers and owners.

The associations have requested the government to take steps to reduce the five percent tax on yarn to two percent, and to make available the net metres used in solar power.