General Motors India is again facing a labour unrest, the second time in the last 14 months, at its mother plant in Halol. Production has come to a standstill, and over 700 workers have joined an indefinite strike at the company’s Halol plant near Vadodara. Till Thursday evening, there was a production loss of 285 vehicles.
GM India employs 1,600 people at its Halol plant of which 1,000 are workers. The striking workers have formed a new union under INTUC and have alleged that they were subjected to excess workload. The workers alleged they were facing health hazards and the company has violated PF Act, gratuity norms and rules of Industrial Safety and Health Act. The company has termed the strike illegal.
“The current strike violated the three-year agreement reached in October when the workers had struck work,” said, GM India vice-president P Balendran and denied there was any bias in transfer of workers, a charge levelled against the company, and said all terms of employment were followed.
Balendran said, “All demands were met during previous strike and an agreement was signed for three years in presence of the labour commissioner.”Earlier, the workers forced a near shut down of the plant during October 2010 for three days. An agreement was reached after several rounds of discussions.
Source – EconomicTimes
