HYDERABAD, Feb 25: The National Labour Federation has condemned closure of more than 30 glass bangle factories here and called upon the authorities to take legal action against owners of the factories for the illegal lockout.

The NLF's provincial president Rana Mehmood Ali Khan and general secretary of its Hyderabad chapter Shakeel Ahmed Shaikh, in a joint statement issued here on Friday, said that due to the lockout, 50,000 workers of bangle industry, including women, had been directly affected.

They said that the factory owners even did not pay half the salary to the workers for the lay off period as required under the labour law. The labour leaders said that the workers had already been of their basic legal rights such as appointment letters, pension and social security cover.

They said that no record was available of 90 per cent of the workers as a result widows and children of those workers, who died during employment, were not paid group insurance and death grant.

They said that the factory owners had converted the bangle units into orphanages and demanded that they should be directed to reopen the factories and legal action should be taken against them for illegal lockout. They pointed out that the factory owners had always violated labour laws and closed the factories in the past without issuing a notice to the workers.