Sheep shearers up in arms, seek regular job

Lalit Mohan

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Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, September 11

Shepherds migrating to lower hills these days are in for trouble. The sheep shearers of the Wool Federation of Himachal have once again threatened to go on strike from September 23. This would mean that wool shearing operations in the entire state will come to a halt, causing losses to shepherds.

The Wool Shearers’ Association said that last year, too, its members had gone on strike demanding the regularisation of their jobs in the Wool Federation of India. It added at that time Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had assured them of fulfilling their demand. However, one year had passed since then, but they were yet to be absorbed even as contractual employees in the federation.

CM had promised to fulfil their demand, they claim

• Wool shearers said last year too, they had gone on strike seeking regularisation of jobs in the Wool Federation of India
• Thousands of shepherds of Himachal had suffered losses as their sheep could not be sheared in time
• Shearers said CM Jai Ram Thakur had assured them of fulfilling their demand but nothing had been done

Tilak Chand, president of the Wool Shearers Association, said that around 15 shearers of the federation had been working on a commission basis for the past eight to 12 years. They were being paid for the number of sheep they shear. It means they are employed only for a small period in a year. About 15 wool shearers had the responsibility of shearing about seven lakh sheep in the state, he added.

“We travel to different parts of the state to shear wool off sheep. Due to the lack of job security, we decided to give up shearing last year. The government assured us to absorb us in the wool federation on a contractual basis. However, nothing has been done so far. So, we have decided to go on strike once again,” he said. Last year, thousands of shepherds of Himachal had suffered losses as their sheep could not be sheared in time. They claim that the value of wool goes down if it is not sheared in time.

The Chairman of the Wool Federation of Himachal, Trilok Kapoor, said that the demand of sheep shearers was genuine. “The matter is under the consideration of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. I am personally pursuing the matter of regularisation of the jobs of sheep shearers. If 15 sheep shearers are absorbed in government jobs, it will not create much financial burden on the government,” he added.