Around a hundred workers of Shivam Autotech Ltd., an automobile firm in Binola village, had to walk nearly 30 km to work on Monday after the company refused to provide them transport citing financial constraints.
More than a week after the company resumed operations with a limited workforce on May 11, the management directed all workers, including the contractual staff, to report to work on May 18, but withdrew the transport facility.
The firm’s human resources deputy general manager, Anshuman Sharma, said that in order to adhere to social distancing norms, four times the normal number of buses were required to ferry the staff, and that the company could not afford it. He said the firm had been incurring losses for the past four years.
Mukesh Kumar Yadav, the former general secretary of SATL Employees’ Union in the company, said those staying in nearby areas had been going to office for over a week now, but the company directed all employees to report to work on Monday.
He said the company used to run buses to ferry workers before the lockdown, but asked the employees to come on their own on Monday. Mr. Yadav said the city buses and autorickshaws were not plying due to the lockdown and therefore the workers were not left with any choice but to walk.
Compromise reached
Later, Mr. Sharma told The Hindu that a “verbal” understanding was reached between the company and the union late in the evening. He said the company had agreed to run the usual number of buses to ferry the workers and pay conveyance charges to the rest. Besides, the company also agreed to pay 60% wages to regular staff for the lockdown period and full wages to the contractual workers present in the city.
However, the management decided on 20% cut in salary till the time the conditions improved. Mr. Sharma said the company had lost 60% of orders post resumption of operations and suffered a loss of ₹30 crore over the past two months, but its priority was to “survive” this phase. He also appreciated the workers’ union for their cooperation during this difficult time.
