While the 50-day strike at General Motors India's (GM) Halol plant near Vadodara was called off on Wednesday with agitating workers reporting back to work, a committee is going to be formed at the plant that will monitor the issues related to overtime, workload etc that workers had raised. The committee will have representation from the workers, the management and the state labour department.
K O Shah, deputy labour commissioner of Vadodara confirmed that he could be on the committee besides workers and GM officials, adding that the exact composition of the committee will be decided by May 15. The committee will also ensure that workers who had gone on strike are not victimised by the management.
"Around 11 workers were suspended during the strike, five of them have been re-instated, and the rest are still under suspension. They are also likely to be taken back. The committee will monitor the negotiations related to work-load, overtime, wages etc between the workers and the management," Shah said
The workers at the Halol plant had gone on strike in mid-March complaining about health hazards owing out of long working hours as well as issues related to overtime wages and suspension of a few workers.
Following a 48-hour notice from the company asking everyone to report to work by March 25, majority of workers had reported to duty, barring close to 200 labourers who continued their agitation. These 200 workers too called off their strike yesterday and have reported to duty on Thursday.
Nihil Mehta, Gujarat-president of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) that was backing Gujarat Kamdar Mandal, a labour union at the Halol plant, said that they wanted all the temporary workers who are currently not on payroll to be made permanent employees of the company. "This would make a difference of Rs 4,000 -5,000 in their monthly salaries, but the company has not made any promises about any time-frame within which they could do so. We have, therefore, decided to continue with all the pending legal cases against the company which involves work-load, overtime and health-hazard related issues. In fact, there is a hearing at the Gujarat High Court on May 10.", Mehta added.
INTUC had alleged that the workers were being subjected to excess work and the company had also violated the Provident Fund Act and gratuity norms and regulations outlined in the Industrial Safety and Health Act. Shah informed that there would be around 250-300 temporary workers at the Halol plant at present. On whether the workers could again go on strike if ther negotiations fail and their demands are not met, Shah said, "I have personally asked all the workers that this is not the right approach to get their issues sorted, I hope that they would not resort to another strike to paralyse production."
When contacted, GM India vice president, corporate affairs, P Balendran did not wish to comment on the issue of temporary workers. He said, "The workers have all reported back to duty. The plant was operational in two shifts today. We have reached an amicable solution. There are no pending issues."
The Halol plant has two labour unions, the GM Employees' Union and the Gujarat Kamdar Mandal which has come up recently under the aegis of INTUC. The GM Employees' Union had not gone on strike.