Workers at Ford India Pvt. Ltd. plant at Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai, continued with their strike for the third consecutive day on Wednesday as the management and the union were not able to arrive at a decision on the severance package. Union leaders told The Hindu that they would continue their strike on Thursday.
“We did have a few rounds of talks on Wednesday. But we couldn’t arrive at any decision. The severance package that they are offering is very less,” said P. Senthil Kumar, general secretary of the Chennai Ford Employees’ Union. Asked what compensation the employees were asking and what was the company’s offer, he did not want to divulge any details. But a few workers said they had asked for more than 300 days of wages for every year of service completed while the company had offered 80 days of wages for every year of service completed.
To an email, Ford’s spokesperson said: “Given the ongoing nature of the discussions with the union, we may not be able to share details at this point and will have more to share later.”
“As announced, the Chennai vehicle assembly plant will wind down production by the second quarter of 2022.” The plant ceased production in the first quarter of 2022. “Ford remains committed to caring for those directly impacted by the restructuring and as we hold the dialogue with the union, we have all manufacturing employees on the rolls in Chennai. There is no loss of employment.” At present, the plant has around 2,600 permanent hourly employees across vehicle assembly and power-train operations.
Workers said there was no production at the Chennai plant on Wednesday. They said the management was convincing them to get to the shop floor and complete the pending work. But they were firm on not entering the shop floor unless a solution was given to them.
Ford, in its email, confirmed that there has been a halt in production since Monday. “The halt in production since Monday in the Chennai vehicle assembly plant is unfortunate against the backdrop of ongoing discussions with union representatives on all outstanding matters, including compensation,” the company’s spokesperson said.
