Protesting GM workers to approach labour department

As workers' protest at the General Motors India (GM) Halol plant continued on Saturday, the labour union affiliated to Indian National Trade Union Congress (Intuc) has decided to approach the state government labour department on Monday to seek a resolution.

Around 200 workers sat in dharna outside the factory gates at Halol on Saturday, demanding to go inside the plant. The number of workers sitting in the protest was lesser compared to Friday, informed a worker at the Halol plant. Nihil Mehta, president, Gujarat wing of Intuc too admitted that. He, however, also added that the union would approach the labour department on Monday to seek a resolution to the issue.

The GM Halol plant employs close to 1,500 workers, and of these around 450 workers are contractual. GM had recently given fresh letters of appointment to contractual workers who are on the payroll of a labour staffing company.

"All workers were not included in the list, and some of them were working with GM for 10 years. Also, many workers could not pick up the letters owing to holiday on Uttarayan. On Friday, these workers were not allowed to enter the premises," Mehta alleged.

The company, however, could not be reached for a comment. A worker at the plant informed on grounds of anonymity that production continued as usual. The plant is producing 130 cars per day at the moment.

It can be mentioned here, that there have been instances of labour trouble at the Halol plant near Vadodara earlier as well. Workers at Halol had gone on strike in October 2010 demanding higher wages, which was resolved swiftly within a matter of days. Later in March 2011, around 900 workers at the plant went on strike complaining health hazards. A new labour union arose at that time, the Gujarat Kamdar Mandal under the aegis of the Intuc. The strike was finally withdrawn after six weeks.

Mehta claimed that around 1,000 workers were members of the Gujarat Kamdar Mandal at the moment.