Ford India Extends Production At Its Chennai Facility Amidst Protest

Also, the US-based automobile giant is already in talks with its workers at its Chennai facility who are protesting against the severance package offered to them. However, the automaker's decision to extend the production schedule was taken only after the discussion with the workers.

A Ford India spokesperson was quoted by PTI saying "Pursuant to the employee cascade on June 9,2022, the company received a positive response, with a vast number of employees consenting to support production in parallel to continuing discussions on the severance package on offer. Over 50 per cent of permanent employees have been supporting production since June 14 and the company has decided to extend production till the end-July 2022. All the employees continuing to support production in July will get wage protection."

Also, Ford claims that it has offered to pay for about 115 days of wages to each employee for each completed year of service. In addition to this, the automaker also claims that this offer is higher than the statutory severance package.

"We look forward to having a constructive dialogue with employees and union representatives to explain the details and benefits of the severance package under the supervision of the labour department", added the Ford spokesperson.

Ford says that the cumulative package accounts for an ex gratia amount that is equivalent to 87 days of last drawn gross wages. Also, a fixed amount of Rs 50,000 will be given for every completed year of service benefits equal to a lump sum of Rs 2.40 lakh and medical insurance till March 2024.

This cumulative amount according to Ford will be subject to a minimum amount of Rs 30 lakh and the amount is capped at Rs 80 lakh.

Earlier, Ford India had resumed production at its previously shut manufacturing facility and out of 2,600 workers, only 100 to 150 workers have joined for work while the rest of the employees were on an "illegal strike".

The US automaker had claimed to have incurred losses close to USD 2 billion in the last ten years of its operation in India, and the company subsequently announced its plans to stop production in India.

The decision to shut down both its manufacturing plants in India despite decent sales figures came as a shocking statement to many. However, Ford kept hope alive by planning to introduce CBU models like the Ford Mustang, Ford Mustang Mach-E and a few more premium vehicles in India.

Thoughts About Ford India

Speaking about Ford in India, the US automaker had faced a lot of ups and downs in the Indian automobile market, despite its strong product portfolio, Ford sometimes forgets to update its better-selling model until it's too late.