GM hires temps for factory

650 rejoin strike-hit unit.

With many workers at the General Motors (GM) factory at Halol, 35 km from Vadodara, still on strike, the company has started recruiting temporary workers.

Nearly 900 workers at the plant had gone on an indefinite strike from the second shift on March 16.

P Balendran, director and vice-president, corporate affairs, GM India, said: “More workers have reported to work on Friday; some even came in the afternoon. The plant is operational in the afternoon as well and we made over 100 vehicles on Friday. We, however, chose not to operate the second shift.”

He added the company had begun hiring temporary workers and put them on training. The strikers were given a 48-hour deadline which ended this morning. About 650 workers have rejoined, but close to 200 are still on strike.

The state government has supported the company and has declared a ban on assembly in front of the factory. Nihil Mehta, president of the Gujarat unit of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, said as workers were not allowed to assemble in front of the unit, they’d gone to protest in front of the district collector’s office at Godhra. “We will take our protest to Gandhinagar if need be”, he said.

GM officials had met state chief minister Narendra Modi yesterday. Balendran said the meeting was pre-scheduled and not due to the strike.