B & C Workers Ready For Vrs If Units Reopen Soon

The Best and Crompton's labour union leader S Paramasivam said the workers were ready to opt for a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) within a week if the management accepted to re-open the operations at its Chennai and Bangalore factories, currently under suspension.

He pointed out that the reason for the failure of adequate response to the latest VRS offered by the management is the unattractive nature of the scheme itself.

Second, the workers' reluctance stems from the fact that there is no guarantee the compensation would be paid on time.

He said those who were relieved on voluntary retirement scheme in 1994 and 1996 were yet to be paid their dues, which has created doubts in the minds of the remaining workers about the offer. He alleged that the retrenchment petition filed by the current management of the company had no legal basis since the winding up petitions were still pending in the Madras High Court.

"The retrenchment petition is only a tactic to armtwist the workers into accepting the unattractive VRS which the management had proposed a few weeks ago, and is certain to fail on legal scrutiny," he added.

Paramasivam said the union would file a memo in the winding up petitions before the high court taking objection to the retrenchment petition before the joint commissioner of labour here, a quasi-judicial authority.

He flayed the court-appointed administrator S Venkitaramanan for approving the filing of the retrenchment petition and suspension of the operations.

The suspension was illegal, Pramasivam said. With the Indonesian company Polysindo set to take over the ailing Best and Crompton the company must immediately infuse funds for running the factory.

and disbursing VRS payouts in order to ensure a smooth transition, he said.