Marking an about turn, the Ruia Group on Tuesday announced an immediate withdrawal of the layoff notice served on the Sahagunj unit.
This followed an emergent meeting convened by Chairman Pawan Ruia on his return from an annual business convention of group companies in Thailand.
It may be mentioned that the State government had said that it would not hesitate to take legal steps against the Dunlop India management, if necessary and in case, the impasse caused by the slapping of a lay-off notice on the workers at the Sahagunj unit was not resolved soon.
“This is a unilateral and unacceptable decision. We have sought documents from the management and we will soon call a tripartite meeting,” the West Bengal Labour Minister Anadi Sahu had said. “If things are not settled then we will take necessary legal steps,” a senior Labour Department official told this correspondent.
Bipartite meeting
A bipartite meeting was held on Monday, at the level of the Hooghly district commissioner, but the management representatives had abstained from the meeting. The Labour Department officials attending the meeting said that the action was illegal and irregular.
The notice for laying off the 950-odd workers was issued on Saturday and took effect from Monday.
Enquiries revealed that while the plant had been facing law and order problems, the decision to effect a layoff was done at the plant-level without any formal approval from the Chairman.
A company release issued here on Tuesday said that the recent hikes in raw material prices and related issues were being discussed at the Thailand meeting and it was decided that a revised business plan with fresh infusion of funds would be prepared for the Sahaganj unit.
At this point of the meeting, the Dunlop management announced the news of the layoff at Sahaganj. It was then decided that the course of action on this would be determined immediately on reaching Kolkata and “the issue would be resolved in the perspective of the Group's philosophy.”
Since the takeover by Mr. Ruia in December 2005, Sahagunj has never really functioned well.
