Ashok Leyland hopeful of settling bonus talks with employees' union

Union has earlier demanded 10% payout, but company stood firm on its offer of 5% and at the end of talks, both parties agreed to 5.423%

Commercial Vehicle major and Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland is expected to conclude talks with the employees' union on bonus for the year within the next two or three days. According to sources, the Union and the management have agreed on a payout of 5.42 per cent of the profit of fiscal year 2018-19.

Ashok Leyland spokesperson said that the company will revert as soon as an agreement is signed.

There are 6,146 employees and irrespective of the grades, all will be eligible for bonus. As per the talks, each employee will get a Rs 1.75 lakh as bonus. Last year, the bonus was around 4.3 per cent, with each employee getting around Rs 1.34 lakh as bonus. The company, which made a profit of Rs 1,983.2 crore in 2018-19, is expected to spend around Rs 107 crore on the payout. 

"The talks are almost concluded except for one point. We are expecting the agreement to be signed on Thursday and the amount to be credited soon," said a source from the Ashok Leyland Employees Union (ALEU). Sources said that one issue on the payment of bonus to those who are in loss of pay is pending, as the management for the first time this year has said that the bonus may not be paid for those who have taken leave on loss of pay. Talks on this aspect are expected to continue on Tuesday.

The Union has earlier demanded a bonus of 10 per cent, but the company stood firm on its offer of 5 per cent and at the end of the talks, both parties agreed to 5.423 per cent, sources said. The Union was expecting Rs 2.25 lakh a head as bonus, but this was reduced owing to the industry slowdown, they said. 

The company this week reported a 70 per cent drop in M&HCV truck sales in the domestic market during the month of August to 3,336 units, from 11,135 units, a year ago. Total sales of M&HCVs, including buses, dropped by 63 per cent to 4,585 units from 12,420 units in the previous year.

Light commercial vehicle sales fell 12 per cent to 3,711 units this August from 4,208 units last year. Total vehicle sales across these categories, declined 50 per cent to 8,296 units from 16,628 units last year.

Domestic sales and exports of M&HCV trucks fell 70 per cent to 3,550 units from 11,717 units a year ago. However sales of M&HCV buses rose 25 per cent to 1,799 units from 1,441 units last year. The sales of LCVs dropped 8 per cent to 3,882 units from 4,228 units, a year ago.

Total vehicles sales, domestic and exports, dropped 47 per cent to 9,231 units in August 2019 from 17,386 units in August 2018.