Thu. Mar 28th, 2024
Source: Cnet

The Chennai plant of Ford India is on its wheels again with the production of the EcoSport SUV for export markets. The US auto major announced that it still possesses an export commitment of around 30,000 units post its closure of manufacturing in India. The commitments have to be met by the end of this year, as reported by IANS.

“Production at the Chennai plant is going on as per schedule. The per-day count of vehicles rolled out would differ as it depends on the production schedule,” a workers union official told IANS on the condition of anonymity. “The company has to export about 30,000 cars by the end of this year. So, the management has cajoled the workers to restart production while holding talks relating to the plant closure,” another worker told IANS.

Ford India has four plants in the country — vehicle and engine plants in Chennai and Sanand. The company makes the EcoSport models in Chennai, while the Figo and Aspire models are made at Sanand. The Chennai plant is the sole manufacturer of the Ecosport model sold in the US, and the Aspire and Figo models are sold in Mexico and South Africa. Earlier Ford India used to make Endeavour models at Chennai but it stopped production recently. “The workers involved in the making of Endeavour have been asked not to come to the plant for a week,” a senior worker told IANS.

Ford India will continue operating the engine plant in Sanand manufacturing the powertrains for Ranger models sold in the Asia Pacific region (excluding China), Middle East and Africa.

Meanwhile, Ford India’s worker union has asked for a meeting with the top officials of Ford Motor Company. The meeting agenda is likely to involve the compensation for the workers after shutting down three of the OEM’s four plants in India. The workers have insisted on job security but are also alive to the situation that the management can stop sourcing components, stop production and close the plant. The management and the worker union have had two rounds of discussions on the plant closure.

“The wage agreement with the worker’s union at the Chennai plant was recently concluded. The agreement is valid for one year. The wage talks in Sanand got stopped with the company announcing its decision to close down the plants,” union officials said.

According to the union officials, there is a wage difference between the workers in the Chennai plant and those in Sanand. “Further, the company has decided to continue running the engine plant at Sanand. So, the impact of plant closure is more in the case of Chennai than in Sanand.”

Ford’s ‘quit India’ decision will result in an uncertain future for about 5,300 employees – workers and staff, the officials said. The Chennai plant has around 2,700 permanent workers and about 600 staff. In Sanand, the number of workers is around 2,000. The automaker’s engine plant in Sanand has more than 500 employees.

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