Under the leadership of Congress member Jignesh Mevani, 355 Ford employees in India staged a demonstration outside the labour office in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on Thursday. They were demonstrating against their future concerns after losing their jobs due to the closure of Ford’s plants in India. The employees submitted a memorandum to the labor commissioner seeking justice.
In 2021, Ford decided to close both its plants in India, located in Chennai and Sanand, Gujarat. The Sanand plant was acquired by the Tata Group from Ford.
Jignesh Mevani, the Congress MLA and leader of the Ford workers’ protest, criticized the Gujarat government and the labor department for protecting the interests of the American company instead of the workers. Mevani assured that he will fight for justice for the workers, referring to labor laws and Supreme Court decisions.
Assistant labour commissioner R.D. Patel explained that, according to takeover rules, when one company takes over another, it must comply with three conditions: equal service conditions, equal wages, and the old company’s experience should be added to the new one. Out of the 976 employees at Ford’s Sanand plant, 621 have been absorbed by the Tata Group, while the dispute of 355 employees is ongoing. There is also an ongoing dispute between Ford, the Tata Group, and the Ford Employees’ Union. Chennai’s employees have been compensated according to their salaries, and some employees here also want compensation and jobs.
The employees who protested demand to work under the same conditions as they did in Ford, but they are not being hired. They want immediate intervention from the state labor minister in this matter. One of the employees said that they want to work, but they want to work in Sanand, where Ford had signed the agreement overnight.
The protest came one day before the birthday of India’s first labor minister, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, which made the situation even more poignant for the workers.
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