Ford crisis in Chennai...Will MK Stalin pay heed to the demands of the employees?

With the view of fixing the crisis that came in a trice, the employees' union of the Ford plant in Chennai has now decided to reach out to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin to intervene in the matter and safeguard their jobs. The development has come days after Ford India has announced that it has decided to shut down the manufacturing plant in Chennai, the city which has been emerging as the biggest automobile hub in India. 

The decision of closing down the plant had drawn a setback for one of the world's largest car manufacturers and distressed the employees as they braced up a plight of what's next. The Employees' Union of Ford Chennai has been taking measures to run the plant in the city, which will secure their employment. The union has decided to approach the Tamil Nadu government to not give permission to shut down the company's plant in Chennai. As the government is yet to give permission for the closure, the employees' union has decided to move its demand to the government to continue the operations of the plant. 

The decision of approaching the state government has come in the albeit to the announcement made by Ford India. According to reports, Ford India's management had informed the employees' union on Tuesday that its decision of shutting down the plants in Chennai was final and there would be no change as the company is not keen on investing more. The talks were held between employees and company authorities on Monday during which the employees demanded that they wanted their jobs. However, the talks had failed to reach an amicable conclusion as the company was stubborn in its decision of closing the plant. 

During Monday's meeting, the union had requested the company to continue operations and to safeguard the jobs of the employees. Eventually, the talks ended with no conclusion following which the union had decided to approach the state government. The President of the Employees' Union has said that the representations have been made to Tamil Nadu Minister for Rural Industries TM Anbarasan and the Union had also reached out to Tamil Nadu Industries Minister Thangam Tennarasu. 

The president of the Union has said that the government is yet to give permission for Ford to shut down. The union has informed the Ford India management that it will approach the state government to safeguard the jobs. It has been reported that ministers Anbarasan and Tennarasu have been informed that 30,000 families have been facing distress over the closure of the plant - with 4,000 direct employees and over 25,000 indirect employees. All of them will be affected by the move of shutting down the plant and most of the employees have over ten years of experience and it was not sure that they will get jobs again. 

In a statement on Monday, the Chennai Employees union has said that the announcement (of closing the plant) had come as a shock and that the union didn't accept the decision and issued a strong condemnation. The statement further said that Ford has to assure the livelihood of all the employees working currently. On September 9, Ford India has said that it would shut its two manufacturing facilities in India - Chennai and in Sanand, Gujarat, and would sell only imported vehicles in the country as part of a restructuring exercise. 

Ford had invested $2.5 billion at its Chennai and Sanada plants and had now decided to stop selling vehicles such as EcoSport, Figo, and Aspire that were manufactured from these two plants. According to PTI, some of the employees in Chennai, with the factory uniforms, had on Tuesday held a protest in the city by raising slogans against the company and demanding the intervention of the state government to secure the jobs of thousands of employees. 

 

Comments