Idle Bajaj Auto workers get sales pitch

400 surplus workers placed with the company's dealers across the country.

Bajaj Auto Ltd, the country's second largest two-wheeler producer, has come out with a novel strategy to redeploy its surplus workers.

Four hundred of the company's staff have been placed with its dealers all over the country, though they continue to be on the rolls of Bajaj Auto. The move is aimed at tackling the problem of idle labour, while beefing up the staff strength of the dealers.

Confirming the development, Bajaj Auto Chairman Rahul Bajaj told Business Standard the scheme had hit a speed bump with some of the workers who were sent outside Maharashtra, where all three Bajaj Auto plants are located, going to the Supreme Court against their transfer order. Their grouse: relocating outside Maharashtra would inconvenience them greatly.

The Supreme Court has ruled that inconvenienced employees can reapply to the company for placement at one of its three plants at Akurdi, Waluj and Chakan.

So far, none of these workers has availed of the opportunity created by the Supreme Court order. "We are yet to receive any application from these employees," Bajaj said.

According to Bajaj, it was not possible to absorb all the 400 employees within Maharashtra. "The company has only 30-40 dealers in Maharashtra and it would not be possible to place more than one person with each dealer," he added.

Bajaj Auto, which has a total staff strength of 10,500, has been grappling with the problem of surplus labour for a while. The total strength of the company now stands at 10,500.

Bajaj said that if the productivity levels of the workforce at Akurdi and Waluj plants were benchmarked against the Chakan plant, the company had an excess workforce of 3,000. "At the Chakan plant's level of productivity, our total requirement will be only 7,000," he said.

The company recently concluded a voluntary retirement scheme which helped prune its workforce by around 700.

The company is yet to decide on whether a fresh VRS will be announced. "We have still not decided on what to do with the excess manpower. There is no plan as of now. We may take a decision in one month or it may even take six months," Bajaj said.

Problem of plenty

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• The move is aimed at tackling the problem of idle labour, while beefing up the staff strength of the dealers
• Workers sent outside Maharashtra, where all three Bajaj Auto plants are located, have moved the Supreme Court
• Bajaj Auto, which has a total staff strength of 10,500, has been grappling with the problem of surplus labour for a while