GM India stops production at Halol plant on workers strike

General Motors India today said its has stopped production at its Halol plant in Gujarat since this morning due to strike by workers, who are demanding hike in wages.

The plant produces 150 vehicles every day. About 450 workers went on a strike just before starting the first shift in the day.

"Workers of the first shift have stopped working since this morning demanding hike in their wages. Discussion with them is going on and we are expecting a solution very soon," General Motors India Vice President P Balendran told PTI.

He said the second shift of the plant, which is scheduled to start at 4 pm, has not started yet as talks are still on.

The Halol facility has an installed capacity to produce 85,000 units every year on three shifts. However, the company operates only two shifts at present.

The plant produces 150 vehicles every day with 900 permanent workers, distributed equally between the two shifts. Besides, it also employs about 100 contract staff, who are not participating in the strike, Balendran said.

The company manufactures premium hatchback Aveo U-Va, entry-level sedan Aveo, mid-sized sedan Optra, sedan Cruze and multi-utility vehicle Tavera at Halol.

Besides Halol, GM India has another plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra with an installed capacity of 1.4 lakh units per year. It currently produces compact cars Spark and Beat.

Earlier this year, the company had ramped up production by adding the second shifts at Halol and Talegaon plants to meet the increased demand of its products.

GM India saw its sales climbing 12.58 per cent to 8,617 units in September this year compared to 7,654 units in the same month last year.