Ford India reaches severance package settlement with employee union

Ford India, the subsidiary of United States-based automaker Ford on Thursday said it has arrived at a settlement with the employees union on the severance package following the company's decision to shut its Tamil Nadu plant as part of a restructuring exercise.

Accordingly, the company would revise the final severance settlement to an average equivalent of 140 days of gross wages per completed year of service from the ongoing offer of 130 days.

"An additional one-time lump sum of Rs 1.50 lakh will also be included in the final settlement." Ford India said in a statement.

A cumulative severance package for each employee would range from Rs 34.50 lakh up to Rs 86.50 lakh and the revised settlement would translate to an average of about 5.1 years or 62 months salary for each employee, the company said.

Ford India said the formal settlement agreement has been planned to be executed before the end of this month and employees would be notified on the next steps towards completing the exit formalities.

"The company would continue paying wages to employees until September 30 to support the exit formalities and remains grateful to the union, Tamil Nadu government and labour officials for their support," the statement said.

Ford India in September 2021 announced the shutting down of its operations in the country and said it would sell only imported vehicles. The company has already stopped producing vehicles like EcoSport, Figo and Aspire.

The company's last production car was rolled out from the assembly lines at the Maraimalai Nagar facility about 45 kms from here in July.