Three-month strike at Pricol’s Coimbatore plant ends

With a section of workers who were on strike returning to work today, the three-month-long industrial unrest at Pricol’s Coimbatore plant seems be coming to an end.

As many as 152 of the 454 workers who had gone on strike reported for work today. The company has issued orders to the remaining workers, offering them jobs at its plants outside Coimbatore. It remains to be seen how many of the 302 relocated workmen accept the offer.

Relocation orders

Vikram Mohan, Managing Director, Pricol, said the company was compelled to relocate the workmen as the flash strike had pushed Pricol to shift the business to its other plants at the insistence of its customers. “It was not easy. But it was a decision we were forced to take lest Pricol goes into history,” Mohan said.

Pricol, a global manufacturer of automotive components and accessories, faced industrial unrest at its plants here between 2007 and 2011. The company then appointed a three-member independent committee, which made some recommendations to contain the unrest.

“Certain conditions had to be fulfilled, both by the management and the union. Subsequently, a second settlement was also reached. This time, some conditions were not fulfilled by the union and we placed the same before the Labour Department in Chennai and Coimbatore,” Mohan said.

“The last agreement lapsed on June 30, 2018. The union placed a fresh set of demands, which were “rather unreasonable,” Mohan said and explained that the company's Coimbatore operations were being cross-subsidised by the other eight plants operated by Pricol.

Shifting operations

“This time, at the insistence of our customers on shifting the operations to our other plants in the vicinity of their (customers) operations, we did just that. By this, we managed to contain the issue, albeit at a high cost and quality issues,” he said in reply to a question, adding, “we pay better than our peers.” According to Pricol’s Chief People Officer R Malarvannan, the workers were demanding a 350 per cent increase in package. “Our growth has not been that much. In fact, we have grown by a mere 10 per cent in the last decade, compared to the 10 per cent year-on-year growth prior to 2011,” he said.

302 transferred

Of the 302 workers who received relocation orders today, 47 are to be deployed at the company’s plant in Sri City (near Chennai), 118 at its Pune facility and 137 at Pantnagar plant.

Mohan said operations at the plant at Sri City commenced just 30 days back and the company was not in a position to redeploy too many people there.

Asked if the company would offer voluntary retirement to those unwilling to accept the relocation order, he said, “Yes, if the demand is reasonable and within our means.”

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