No reason or legal notice given, owners give no explanation
Dunlop India has issued a layoff notice, effective from tomorrow, to about 900 workers of its Sahagunj tyre factory, two hours from here in the adjoining district of Hooghly.
The notice was put on the company gate yesterday, according to which the workers would get half their salary and dearness allowances. They have been asked to report every day at the work place, though there will be no production.
The notice gives no clue as to when Dunlop, which claims to be reeling under the pressure of high input costs, will reopen the factory. The company is part of the Ruia group.
“Yes, a layoff notice has been put. This is a decision by the Dunlop management. All key officials, including Pawan Kumar Ruia, are in Bangkok to attend an annual conference. He will be consulted on this once he is back in India. We’ll take a further call on this very soon,” the group’s spokesperson said over phone from Bangkok.
He refused to comment when asked how the Dunlop management could have decided without consulting Ruia, who is the chairman. In fact, at February-end, Ruia had told Business Standard the factory would be stabilised in another six months.
This is the second time the factory has been shut since the Ruia group acquired Dunlop in 2005. The plant was closed for about four months in November 2008 following the global financial crisis. However, Dunlop’s other plant at Ambattur in Tamil Nadu is operational.
Elections to the state assembly are due to begin later this month and the closure would be an issue. Kali Ghosh, secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu), run by the ruling CPI(M), described the move as ‘illegal’, as the state government was not informed about this.
“There was fear that something like this could happen. This is illegal, as according to the Industrial Disputes Act, for such a layoff notice, the state government must be informed. They have to justify their action to the government,” Ghosh said.
Citu would decide what to do after consulting the union leaders at Sahagunj, he said.
Local CPI (M) leader and former MP, Rupchand Pal, said: “As elections are round the corner, the government can intervene in the matter only in a limited way, as everything is under the jurisdiction of the Election Commission. However, we had a discussion with the District Magistrate, who is also the chief election officer here, a day before the notice was served, as there was some uncertainty in the factory for the last few weeks.”
Adding: “There are certain provisions according to which the company can give such-lay-off notice. I doubt how much of these have been followed here.”
Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee put the blame on both the owner and trade unions for this situation. “We never support such layoffs. The Sahagunj factory should be reopened immediately. I’m trying to get in touch with Pawan Ruia, who seems to be busy in his business outside India instead of focusing on Dunlop. If there is any barrier from the state government, they should come up with that. TMC does not have an organised union there. Citu and Intuc (Indian National Trade Union Congress) who are there should also stop playing to the gallery and instead focus on resolving the problems,” he said.
