Dunlop Brass Shies Away From Tripartite Meet

The Dunlop India management, which was supposed to meet the state government for a tripartite meeting yesterday, cried off from the meeting. The brass has written to the labour commissioners office saying they are agreeable to meeting at a later date but were not interested in a tripartite meeting.

This stance of the beleaguered tyre major has raised eyebrows at a time when efforts are on to re-open the Sahaganj plant. The Dunlop management says it had to cancel yesterdays meeting to attend a similar meeting at Chennai regarding the suspension notice of Ambattur unit.

In a letter addressed to the additional labour commissioner, government of West Bengal, senior vice-president (marketing), S Badr-inathan, has claimed that all the senior officials from the corporate office will be away in Chennai during that period to attend a meeting convened by the labour commissioner, government of Tamil Nadu. It would, therefore, not be possible for us to attend any meeting on February 20, 1998.

 

However, we may attend any meeting separately (not tripartite) at your office at a later date, the letter added.

Sources claim that Dunlop India submitted a revival plan to the finance minister Asim Dasgupta yesterday. Details of the revival plan for the company, however, were not made public.

Union sources said the labour commissioner has decided to call a bipartite meeting followed by a tripartite meeting in the next week to review the Dunlop issue.

The labour commissioner assured us that a decision will be taken if the management does not attend the meeting convened by the state government next week, said the source who was also present at the meeting.

We would like to become a party in the revival package that the management submits to the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), the source added.

In yet another letter, the Citu-affiliated Dunlop Workers Union of Sahaganj formally informed the state labour commissioner that the company has neither lifted the suspension notice nor arranged any payment inspite of the request made by the government in the tripartite meeting held on February 9.

In addition, the company has issued show cause letters to six workers including senior office bearers of both the recognised unions Citu and Intuc, the letter said.