Conciliation meeting between Ford union, management Thursday

Chennai, March 28 (IANS) A conciliation meeting is slated for Thursday between Ford India Employees Union (FIEU) and the management of car maker Ford India Pvt Ltd before the labour commissioner even as around 700 workers boycotted work Wednesday, said a union official.

Speaking to IANS, FIEU treasurer K. Selvaraj said: "A conciliation meeting has been fixed for Thursday morning between the union and the management."

He said police had released around 450 employees arrested Tuesday midnight for protesting against the dismissal of nine employees.

According to Selvaraj, around 700 employees boycotted their work Wednesday.

"We are discussing our next course of action and only then we can say what it would be," FIEU's general secretary A. Satish Kumar told IANS.

Around 450 employees of Ford India - the wholly owned subsidiary of US auto maker Ford Motor Company - protested at the company's plant at Maraimalai Nagar near here Tuesday demanding the reinstatement of nine dismissed employees.

Employees of Ford India can claim reimbursement of medicine charges on submission of pharmacy bills. However, on an enquiry, the company found that the nine employees had submitted bogus bills and dismissed them.

"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," Ford India said in a statement to IANS.

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.