Labour trouble at Ford India

Chennai, March 27 (IANS) Around 350 employees of Ford India Pvt Ltd held a protest outside the company's plant at Maraimalai Nagar near here Tuesday demanding the reinstatement of nine dismissed employees, said a union official.

Speaking to IANS, Ford India Employees Union General Secretary A. Satish Kumar said: "The company dismissed nine people today (Tuesday) and we want them to be reinstated. The company is targeting one category of employees."

Employees of Ford India can claim reimbursement of medicine charges on submission of pharmacy bills.

On an enquiry, the company found that the nine employees had submitted bogus bills and they were dismissed.

Queried about that, Ford India in a statement to IANS said: "Nine employees at Ford's Chennai operation violated the company's code of integrity. Their employment was terminated after due enquiry process. The plant continues to operate its normal production schedule."

According to Kumar, the nine dismissed employees belong to the production associates category and are paid on hourly basis.

"The company had conducted verification of the medicine bills only for this category of employees alone while the reimbursement scheme is there for all the employees. It is common knowledge that majority of the bills submitted for reimbursement are bogus," he said.

He said no formal strike notice has been served on the company.