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Pune: General Motors ready to mediate with sacked employees after court orders
George Svigos, Director of Communication, GM International, in a statement said, “The company is hopeful with the mediation process and looking for a positive outcome
General Motors (GM) has expressed its readiness to engage in mediation as ordered by the labour court in connection with the retrenching of 1,086 employees at its Talegaon Plant.
George Svigos, Director of Communication, GM International, in a statement said, “The company is hopeful with the mediation process and looking for a positive outcome.
Earlier, the employees under the aegis of General Motors Employees Union (GMEU) had claimed they were illegally terminated at Talegaon Factory and the company has violated the industrial court order to pay 50 per cent wages to them as an interim relief from April 7, 2022.
The said court had ordered payment of 50 per cent of salary till the final decision was made. GM challenged the industrial court order in the Bombay High Court and after the HC ruled in favour of the employees, the company challenged the same in the apex court which redirected the matter to the industrial court with directions to the said court to conclude the dispute by January 2023. General Motors India Pvt. Ltd in January 2022 had announced that it had sold its plant at Talegaon to Great Wall Motors. The company had also announced that no employees of the company would be hired in the new company and they would be given voluntary retirement. But the workers demanded a job and the amount of voluntary retirement was not accepted by any of the union members. Thereafter , the company first sought permission from the Maharashtra government to shut the plant, but the government refused after which the company terminated their services.
“The company is ready to engage in mediation as ordered by the Labour Court and overseen by an independent mediator. Having legally separated former employees from the Talegaon site, the company offered impacted employees with a settlement package. We call on the labour union to do the right thing by its members and engage constructively in this independent mediation process,” Svigos stated.
The separation package formula was seven times the legal requirement, with the average payout equivalent to more than 3.5 years of salary after tax. The company extended the deadline twice for former employees to take the generous separation package. No production has occurred at the site in over two years and the company will not revisit its decision to cease manufacturing General Motors will not restart production at the site, the statement added.
