Pricol Limited reconsiders dismissal order of 70 workmen

Automotive parts manufacturer Pricol Limited here on Tuesday expressed desire to reconsider the dismissal order of over 70 of its employees, who failed to respond to transfer orders, if they were willing to resume duty within seven days at their allotted location.

The company had transferred over 250 employees following continuous strike, a management release said here, adding a few of the employees had commenced work in their transferred location, while 72 employees did not respond to any of the written appeals in the last 75 days.

In view of this, the management, without any option, dismissed them on February 11 as per their employment condition in the contract and other statutory guidelines, it said.

"However, we are ready to reconsider their dismissal order on humanitarian grounds, if these workmen are willing to resume duty, with a written consent letter to the management, at their allotted location within seven days from now," the management said.

Though the activities of the union, affiliated to All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) have been always detrimental for the effective functioning of the plants, in order to protect the interests of the business and employee fraternity at large, the management signed tri-party agreements on June 2012 and August 2014, and fulfilled the demands of the union from time to time to ensure a peaceful working environment, the statement said.

The tri-party agreement ended in June last year and discussions were on to formulate a new tri-party agreement with the unions from March onwards. However, a section of the union went on an indefinite strike on August 21 last.

"Due to this (strike), our major customers insisted that we transfer their existing orders strategically from Coimbatore plants to other plants located in different parts of the country to ensure continuous supply of products. This in turn affected the business at Coimbatore in a very big way," the management said.