Ceat Bhandup Plant Closed Temporarily

Ceat Tyres management has decided to shut down operations at the Bhandup plant temporarily due to high inventory pile-up, claims the recognised union of the company.

However, company sources said that the closure of the factory for 11 days is to improve the operational efficiency of the plant.

The temporary shut-down has affected lives of at least 2,500 workers at the plant.

According to company officials, the plant has been closed for overhauling and maintenance of major equipment. But according to the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the recognised union, the decision to temporary lay-off of the workers was meant to reduce the inventory level of tyres at the factory site.

 

The unions Mumbai head, Prabhakar Sanzgiri, opined that recession in the automobile sector and competition from foreign manufacturers has posed a tough challenge for the company.

It, at present, has over one lakh truck tyres lying at its premises at Bhandup. Another 90,000 tyres are lying at its Nashik plant adding to the inventory pile-up.

The Bhandup plant of the RPG group company manufacturers nearly 3,000 tyres daily, of which approximately 2,500 tyre are sold, resulting in a backlog of 500 tyres everyday. In order to reduce this backlog we decided to take the eleven-day proposal.

The company management had forwarded a proposal for a holiday for its workers once a week, each Saturday.

The weekly holiday schedule would have affected the working schedule, thus the agreement for a continuous shut-down.

Company sources said that an expenditure of Rs 8 to Rs 9 crore would be incurred in over hauling the plant after which the inventory-carrying period will be reduced from 25 to 19 days.

According to the understanding, during this period each worker would avail of 70 per cent of his salary apart from his dearness allowance.

We have ensured that no worker would be retrenched, union sources said. Already the domestic tyre industry is in the doldrums with Vikrant and Premier having sold of their units. We did not wanted similar thing to happen with Ceat, he said.

This agreement is applicable to only the Bhandup plant of Ceat Tyres, which has been shut down from January 28, and not to the Nashik plant which has a workforce of 1,600 workers.