At Ambattur unit in Chennai Dunlop India suspends work

The tyre manufacturer Dunlop India Ltd has reportedly suspended work at its Ambattur, Chennai, and factory with immediate effect due to labour unrest. It was reported that in its notice of suspension of work at Ambattur issued on Tuesday, the company said that as per the Long-Term Settlement arrived at on July 30, 2009, between the management and the Dunlop Factory Employees’ Union, the workers had agreed to bring down the production cost to the minimum level possible, promote productivity and all-round discipline and maximise capacity utilisation. The agreement paved the way for the opening of the factory in October 2009.

It was mentioned that the Dunlop management claimed that despite its best possible efforts to revive the unit and though it incurred heavy losses, the union did not co-operate and It was mentioned that according to Dunlop "manipulated the attendance/payroll, which turned out to be detrimental to the revival/survival of the company".

The report also stated that explaining in detail the atmosphere prevailing at the plant since February 10 when workmen "practically resorted to illegal strike" culminating in the management’s decision to suspend work at the plant with immediate effect, the DIL management said that most of the management staff, fearing for their safety, have "refused to report" for duty and under the circumstances, it was left with "no other alternative but to suspend the operations of the factory with immediate effect". The company said during the period of suspension of work, the "principle of no work no pay shall be followed".