Trade unions associated with the Uttarpara unit of Hindustan Motors on Monday felt that the company should have talked to them before announcing the VRS scheme. The unit has been under work suspension since May 24.
However, a number of workers have already begun picking up application forms, which are available from the security office at the factory gates. There are 2,218 employees at its mother unit in Uttarpara here. The scheme is valid till November 20.
Experts felt that the move might eventually lead to phasing out of the iconic Ambassador cars. The company was making 150 cars against a breakeven of 1,500 vehicles.
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The package offers each employee his balance salary dues (around Rs.45,000) plus encashment of earned and sick leave besides gratuity plus a Rs.1 lakh purse.
For a person with 34 years of service, this works out to around Rs.4 lakh. Workers were peeved that amount was not linked to the number of service years left. Hindustan Motors is now a BIFR-referred company with an accumulated loss of over Rs.500 crore.