DUNLOP FINAL SETTLEMENT TALKS

Discussions on a final settlement and shutting down Dunlop India Ltd factory at Ambattur, Chennai, are set to resume on Saturday between the management and the union. According to senior leaders of the Dunlop Factory Employees Union (DFEU), the discussions will be on the final payment to terminate the services of the 734 workers on the rolls as of October 1, 2008.

This is in line with the agreement signed last October between the union and the management. The company stopped production in June 2008 due to working capital shortage. This will then pave the way for Dunlop to restart in a new avatar either at the present location or in a new facility. The company has plans to diversify into radial tyres from its present range of cross ply tyres, the sources said.

Interim wage
In the agreement they had set a six-month deadline to allow all the workers at the Ambattur factory to exit through a voluntary retirement scheme, if production does not start. In the interim period, the management agreed to pay each of the workers Rs 2,700 a month as allowance.

However, according to union sources, the company had not been able to pay the interim wage after the first two months of the agreement. The DFEU is pushing for a settlement in the range of about Rs 5 lakh a worker.

There have been several rounds of discussions between the workers and the union since last October, but they had not been able to arrive at a consensus. The discussion is on the final leg as the senior representatives including Dunlops Chairman, Mr Pawan Ruia, and senior union representatives of the DFEU-led Mr A. Krishnaswamy, the union President, are to participate, the sources said.