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Aavin contract vehicle owners end five-day strike in Chennai; retailers say festival sweets ran short
Owners of the vehicles hired by Aavin to deliver milk in Chennai ended a strike that began without notice on 16 October. Aavin says supply to its parlours and outlets was not affected, but retailers say sweets and savouries ran short before Ayudha Puja and want the government to look into it.
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3 min
Contract vehicle owners who deliver milk for Aavin in Chennai have ended a strike that began without notice on 16 October, and the vehicles went back to regular service on Thursday, 22 October. The state dairy cooperative says supply of milk and dairy products was never interrupted. Some retailers tell a different story about the festival sweets, and they want the government to investigate before Deepavali.
The strike started on 16 October without prior notice, and only five of the 31 contracted vehicles that normally run in Chennai kept working. The owners and drivers said that the vehicle rent and the daily wage of Rs 900 for drivers were not workable. The reports do not give the amounts they wanted or the terms they accepted. Delivery of milk and other products such as paneer, ghee and butter in Chennai and its suburbs was affected at first.
The owners met Aavin's management on 21 October, said they were ready to call off the protest and resumed work the next day. Most reports describe it as a five-day strike, and one Tamil newspaper calls it a six-day strike, depending on whether the day of the start is counted. One report described the withdrawal as sudden.
What Aavin says
Aavin said it kept supplies moving by using its own vehicles and those of wholesale distributors. Its managing director, Sivarasu, said the strike began without notice and that the efforts made during it ensured that milk and dairy products reached the public. The distribution in the city is worth about Rs 1 crore a day and goes through 36 Aavin parlours and more than 1,000 retail outlets, which the management said continued to receive adequate supplies without shortages.
What retailers say
Retail parlour owners say the picture was not so smooth for sweets and savouries. They said sweets and savouries for Ayudha Puja were not available at their shops during the strike. Sweets and savouries from cooperatives in Gujarat and Karnataka sold well, and private dairy firms from Andhra Pradesh are reported to have sold large quantities and profited.
The retailers suspect that Aavin officials were party to the strike, and they want the government to investigate and to make sure it is not repeated before Deepavali, which falls on 8 November. That is an allegation by the retailers, and the reports do not carry any response to it from Aavin or the state government. The Communist Party of India also called for urgent action on what it described as milk shortages, according to reports.
The strike came in the weeks of the highest demand for dairy products, when festivals such as Ayudha Puja and Deepavali push up sales of milk and milk-based sweets. Aavin is one of the main suppliers in the state, and any break in transport shows up quickly at its parlours, which also sell its own sweets and savouries.
The agreement reached on 21 October has not been made public. Whether the rent and the daily wage have been raised, and whether the vehicle owners have been promised a review, is not stated. The arrangement of hiring vehicles by contract is common in distribution, and a dispute over rent and wages can recur if it is not settled, and Deepavali is about two weeks away.
Customers can expect regular supply, according to the management. Retailers say they will watch the next few days, since the time between the strike's end and the festival is short.
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