Even as the indefinite strike by the power loom job workers continues, a section of the Open End Mills (OEM), which supply yarn to these units, has stopped production from today.

There are about 300 OEMs in Tamil Nadu, a majority of them based in and around Coimbatore and Tirupur. Most of them supply yarn to power loom units. The power-loom sector has gone on strike from January 28, leading to a pile-up stock of yarns worth more than Rs.100 crores, OEM sources said.

The OEMs produce about 10 lakh kilos of yarn, valued at Rs.10 crores, everyday. If the OEMs stop work, it will further affect nearly 2 lakh workers in the area. Attempts by the district collectors of Coimbatore and Tirupur districts to negotiate peace between the representatives of job working units and the clothes manufactures, but, nothing has materialized yet.

The trouble began when the clothes manufacturers stopped paying the power loom units the increased wages as per the new agreement of 2014 and instead reverted to the previous agreement. Repeated reminders from the power loom units evoked no response from them.