With only three days to go for Deepavali, there seems to be little hope for any compromise or re-negotiations taking place between the workers and the mill owners.

The Southern India Mills Association (Sima), which assumed the mantle of the negotiator on behalf of its 125 member mills in Coimbatore and Erode, has completely failed to convince the Joint Action Council (JAC), the umbrella organisation for the eight major textile trade unions, over the reduced bonus payment this year.

"Owing to continued recession and sluggish demand, the financial position of many mills was not so strong as a result of which reduction in the bonus, as compared to last year, has been proposed for the cash strapped mills and an ex-gratia of one per cent in addition has been recommended for other mills. However, the adamant stand taken by the trade unions seems to have ruled out any possibility of a compromise at this stage," said PR Subramanium, secretary of Sima.

Even last year, after prolonged negotiations, an agreement was reached wherein a minimum bonus of 11.5 per cent for the cash strapped mills and a 14.5 per cent bonus for the other units was settled by Sima.

As contrast to this, Sima has, for the current year, proposed a statutory minimum bonus of 8.33 per cent from the cash loss mills and an ex-gratia of one percent in addition has been proposed for other mills.

Sima officials said that following the intervention of the local labour authorities, unions were made to talk to individual units as a result of which only 4 member mills out of 125 have been able to reach a settlement. The others are still adamant and want the mills to give them a bonus, which is more than what was given in the last year.

But the fact remains that under the given condition of the textile industry, the demands put forth by the trade unions may not be met and whether they like it or not, the workers don't have a choice and will have to settle for less.

Whereas, the unions had earlier asked for a maximum bonus of 35 per cent and a minimum of 17 per cent, this was later scaled down to a 13 per cent offer from cash strapped mills and 15.5 per cent from the mills having minimum bonus liability.

The only solution left now is a settlement at an individual level which can turn out to be a bonanza for some and disappointment for others.

Whether the mill owners and the trade unions would once again re-negotiate the issue is still to be seen, however, one thing which is feared amongst the industry is that this may set a bad precedent for future bonus negotiations.