Chennai, August 9(BPNS)
Extreme shortage of professional overlock tailors have led to a desperate garment factory owner in Tiruppur put up posters in and around the town promising gold ring to any tailor who sticks with his firm for eight months. This is in addition to the salary and other benefits for the overlock tailors.
Overlock tailors are part of the Power Table Operators in the tailoring section unit and are in much demand in the tailoring and garment industry of Tiruppur.
Kumar, 40, a garment factory owner is getting bulk orders from exporters and needs professional tailors who are specialised in overlock. However even after offering a weekly salary of Rs 6000, people don’t turn up and after one or two tailors joined, they left after working for three-four days.
As these tailors get a weekly salary they leave the unit, make merry for a week with the money, and join in some other unit. Tiruppur is the cradle of garment exports in South India with several major brands getting their works outsourced from this town of Western Tamil Nadu.
Kumar who is a native of Andipalayam in Tirupur while speaking to BPNS said, “ I have a garment unit at Karuvampalayam and is running it for several years. I get bulk orders from garment exporters and have a deadline. With the shortage of professional overlock tailors, I am not able to take the orders as deadlines are important in this business. Hence I have put up handwritten posters across Tiruppur offering a gold ring to any overlock tailor who sticks with me for eight months minimum.”
Even after the poster was pasted, there are no takers and this is worrying the garment unit owner.
In Tiruppur , tailoring unit owners and garment factory owners are providing offers to woo the tailors. One unit owner had offered 2 litres of petrol a day for overlock tailors who reach the unit from distant villages, another offered liquor to workers but had to chicken out following uproar in the society and among the garment unit association.
Raja Shanmugham, President, Tiruppur Exporters Association while speaking to BPNS said,” Small units desperate to get tailors gave such advertisements. It is not very sensational news. These fancy offers are given by small units sometimes after they fall short of tailors and this is never done by established big units.”
