Tata Motors’ Sanand plant workers move labour dept
Workers of Tata Motors’ Sanand plant, 40 km from here, who refused to take the company transport back home on Wednesday as a mark of protest, have approached the state labour department to help them negotiate with the management.
A tripartite meeting between the workers, labour department officials and company representatives took place on Thursday afternoon to discuss the workers’ these related to wage hikes.
Around 200 workers met the labour commissioner here and complained they had not received any wage hike since 2015. Another meeting has been scheduled for March 15.
Hitesh Rabari, president of the Bharatiya Kamdar Ekta Sangh, Sanand, the labour department-recognised union at the Tata plant, said, “We have been placing our demands before the management for one and a half years. Now, we want a definitive solution. The average worker salary here is around ~12,000 and given the rising cost of living and the prevailing wages in the automobile industry, ~25,000 is what we demand.”
The workers, however, have not gone on strike and the unit was fully operational on Thursday.
A company spokesperson said, “Tata Motors works with its union as part of collective bargaining towards long-term benefits of both workmen and organisation. The demands made by the union are unreasonable. The company remains engaged in a harmonious discussion with union representatives. Instead of continuing discussion with the management, workmen have approached labour authorities for conciliation. Tata Motors thanks the labour authorities for the intervention and will work along with them to arrive at a solution.”
Justifying their demand, workers say while the Nano did not take off well in the Indian market but the newly launched Tiago hatchback has.