A nearly two-week long strike at General Motors’ Halol, India, assembly plant has motivated the automaker to hire a new temporary staff and to issue an ultimatum to striking workers.
About 250 of GM’s 900 workers went on strike on March 16. As a result, production dropped from 100 vehicles per shift to 70.
“Workers cannot earn their wages at the cost of their lives – they are popping pain-killers owing to workload,” said the workers union’s general secretary, Nihil Mehta. The union argues that GM increased production from 176 to 208 units daily without a commensurate increase in pay.
GM says that it gave the workers until March 25 to show up for work. Now, the automaker says it is looking into the legality of letting the 250 striking workers go.
To temporarily stave off a product drought, GM has hired enough temporary staff to bring production back up to speed.
“We have started hiring people and production of vehicles is going up,” GM India Vice President P. Balendran told Indian media. The automaker builds a variety of Chevrolet products primarily aimed at the fast-growing Indian market in Halol.
GM says that the strike has cost the company 850 vehicles, but the new temporary hires have helped increase production.
References
1.’General Motors India…’ view
1.’Halol strike: GM’s…’ view
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