Labour trouble at GM's Halol plant ends

The management and the contractual workers at the General Motors Halol plant reached an agreement today, whereby fresh appointment letters would be issued to agitating contractual workers, who were meanwhile allowed to go inside the plant.

M H Patel, government labour officer, Vadodara confirmed the development. He explained, "A resolution has been worked out between the temporary workers and the company management. These were contractual workers who were supplied from an agency, and annual contracts are issued to them. However, some workers had failed to pick up the fresh letters of appointment and hence were not allowed inside the plant. Other contractual workers from the same agency too decided to abstain from work to express their solidarity."

Patel informed that around 230-250 workers were employed at the plant through the agency, and they will receive their renewed appointment letters in a while.

Nihil Mehta, president of Gujarat Intuc said that the General Motors management has agreed to allow the temporary workers inside. "They had not issued letters to all the contractual workers, but, now they have claimed to issue temporary letters to allow them inside. And final renewed contract letters will come in a short while, hence we have also decided to withdraw the protest," he claimed.

The company could not be reached for a comment.

Meanwhile, workers who had staged a dharna outside the factory gates on Friday and Saturday last week, today refrained from any protests.

Earlier instances of labour trouble had also been sorted out amicably at the Halol plant. In October 2010, when workers had gone on strike demanding higher wages, the issue was sorted out in three days. Later on the March 2011 strike had ended in six weeks.