Covid norms: Car plants inspected
No vehicle will roll out if social distancing is strictly maintained, say auto unions
If the social distancing norms are to be followed strictly at car plants, then no vehicle can be rolled out. The companies have to consider the workers as frontline warriors, said union officials at different factories.
Senior officials of Tamil Nadu’s Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health have inspected the car plants of Renault Nissan Automotive India, Ford India, Hyundai Motor India to arrive at the uniform social distancing norms at the shop floor level.
Court directive
The Madras High Court had on June 8 ordered the Directorate of Industrial Safety to visit the Renault Nissan Automotive’s factory and also other comparable passenger vehicle makers located near here to arrive at a uniform guideline.
“The officials from the Directorate of Industrial Safety inspected the plant in the evening after 430 pm when we were not there. We wanted to voice our views to the inspecting team,” M Moorthy, General Secretary, Renault Nissan India Thozhilalar Sangam (RNITS), told IANS.
According to him, the management is not talking with the union despite the requests and hence the court case.
“No automobile plant can function if the social distancing norms are strictly followed. For instance, when one person loads the wheel another worker near him will tighten the bolts. Similarly, when seats are fixed inside,” a worker in Ford India preferring anonymity told IANS.
“Officials from the Directorate of Industrial Safety had visited the plant but didn’t hold any discussion with the union officials,” a union official in Ford India told IANS.
Similarly, the state government officials had inspected Hyundai Motor India’s mega car plant, a union leader told IANS.
Incidentally the production capacities of all the three plants vary largely.
Hearing the case filed by the RNITS against Renault Nissan Automotive for nonadherence to the Covid-19 safety protocol while operating the plant, the court had issued its order.