Workers at Ford India near Chennai have formed a union (FIEMU) and have demanded that the Company negotiate with their union. Ford, like many other multinational companies, has the practice of actively discouraging the formation of unions. Instead it appoints a “workers committee” and deals with workers through such a committee.
Workers at Ford India near Chennai have formed a union (FIEMU) and have demanded that the Company negotiate with their union. Ford, like many other multinational companies, has the practice of actively discouraging the formation of unions. Instead it appoints a “workers committee” and deals with workers through such a committee.
The Union is opposing the practice of the management of debiting leave account when the plant is shut for maintenance. Workers are also forced to compensate for the 10 minute tea break they take.
Ford India has around 3,000 workers at its Maraimalai Nagar plant in Kanchipuram District out of which around 1,200 are permanent workers. The company is in the process of hiring another 1,000 workers so that it can start running second shift owing to the increased orders for its new small car Figo. According to the Union, new recruits will mostly be apprentices. The ratio of permanent workers to other class of workers — apprentices, casual workers — is
increasingly getting skewed against the former, and there is a great sense of job insecurity amongst workers.
Ford India not only manufactures cars, it manufactures engines for export to other Ford Plants around the world. The Maraimalai plant has capacity to manufacture 250,000 engines a year.