Trade unions fear more job cuts in auto sector

With Tata Motors, India’s biggest auto company, ‘disengaging’ 300 temporary workers at its Jamshedpur plant, the country’s trade unions fear that slowdown-hit vehicle-makers may resort to more job cuts.

Trade unions such as All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) — the country’s oldest — and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), which have unions in leading automakers like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda and also in some of the auto component-making companies, say that the downturn has already forced companies to trim their workforce.

Though there is no law compelling automotive companies to reveal their manpower strength belonging to the casual/outsourced/temporary category, according to estimates, more than half of the total strength in the Indian automotive sector comes from this category.

M K Pandhe, president, CITU, said, “About 55-60 per cent of the total workforce is made up of the casual and temporary employees in the automotive sector. This figure stood below 40 per cent in the 1980’s. Just 2,00,000 workers are deemed as permanent employees.”

He added: “From what we have learnt through our member unions in various automotive companies, we are expecting a steady outflow of temporary workers although it may not be in one go like the way Tata Motors did. The companies may sack 10-12 workers on a weekly basis.” CITU has more than 3.4 million members with 4,000 trade unions affiliated to it.

According to a Tata Motors official at the Pune facility, at a given time more than 8,000 temporary workers are deployed at the company’s Pimpri plant. Whenever there is a slowdown or cut in production, these workers are laid-off as per requirements.

When contacted, a company spokesperson said, “There is no fixed number of temporary workers maintained by Tata Motors. Since they are temporary, they are deployed as per requirements”.

An official who monitors the manufacturing units of Tata’s Sumo Grande as well the Indica said, “We are experiencing the effects of slump gradually. The production is expected to go down marginally even though festive season is on.” He further pointed out that a large number of temporary workers would be relieved of their jobs for at least 15 to 30 days in the immediate future following “less work load”.

Similar situation prevails at Aurangabad plant of Bajaj Auto (BAL). A top official of a workers’ union of the company told Business Standard that the production has gone down at the plant and hence, certain number of “casual” workers might be laid-off as a cost-cutting measure. BAL makes the Pulsar range of bikes from this facility.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the country’s leading manufacturer of utility vehicles, generally deploys more than 600 temporary workers at its Nashik plant. The company may opt for production cuts here over the next few months. “Temporary workers are temporary and hence are relieved of their duty for certain time period,” said a senior company executive. The company produces the Scorpio and Bolero range from the Nashik plant.

According to a recent study done by the International Metal Workers Federation, a global body of union workers representing more than 25 million metal workers worldwide, in many cases plant representatives reported that almost half or more of the work force are in precarious jobs, with these workers receiving much lower compensation and social benefits.

Madhavan Nair, deputy general secretary, AITUC, said, “There has been an alarming increase in the number of contract workers employed by auto companies today. Such recruitments are carried out even for production purposes today, a segment which demands high level of know-how.” AITUC has more than 2.6 million members.