Labour Unrest Leads To Work Suspension At Dunlop Unit

Beleaguered tyre major Dunlop India Ltd, a Manu Chhabria-controlled company, has suspended operations at its Shahganj factory in West Bengals Hooghly district since Saturday.

The management has been forced to take the decision following a series of highly irregular and unruly acts by a section of the workforce at Shahganj, disrupting operations over the past several weeks and preventing the plant administration from normal discharge of its duties, a company release said here yesterday.

The disruptive activity included confinement of plant personnel, abusive sloganeering and physical threats, said the release, adding that several management personnel had stayed away from the factory.

 

However, while the management has had no option but to take a very serious view of these activities, the managing director and his team have no intention of prolonging the present suspension at the factory, which is temporary in nature, the release said.

It added that the workers have also been disrupting day-to-day operations by preventing the loading and despatch of finished goods, which, in turn, has alienated the companys customers. Certain critical customers such as the defence services, which depend almost entirely on the Shahganj unit for aircraft tyres, have been deprived of vital supplies.

PTI yesterday quoted a company spokesperson as admitting that workers at Shahganj had not received their wages for the past three months.