Birla Tyres, a unit of B K Birla Group company Kesoram Industries, today reopened its Balasore plant in Orissa after a lock-out imposed on July 16.
"Almost 90 per cent employees have resumed duty at our Balasore plant this morning. We will start production tomorrow onwards," a company spokesperson told PTI over the phone.
Earlier, the company was forced to declare a lock-out at the plant on July 16 due to what it termed as an "illegal strike" of employees.
Birla Tyres is the only tyre company in Orissa where more than 5,000 regular labourers and 3,000-odd contractual workers are employed.
"In spite of advice from the district administration and the Labour Department of Orissa, the employees had squatted inside the factory premises. The management was forced to declare a lock-out," the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
It may be recalled that on January 19 last year, Birla Tyres had announced a temporary closure of its Balasore plant till January 31 in view of the global economic meltdown.
The temporary closure was aimed at cutting production.
