Ford India employees looking forward to tripartite talks for severance package

Employees at the Ford India factory are looking forward to the tripartite talks scheduled to be held next week to discuss the severance package offered by the automaker. The employees are expecting a positive outcome as Ford India recently announced that it has continuously made efforts to negotiate a 'fair and reasonable' severance package with the union. The discussion has spanned 68 meetings including discussions with senior government officials.

While the automaker has maintained that it cares for its employees, but its attempts to negotiate a fair severance package did not yield results because of the union's 'unreasonable' demands. However, Ford India employees said that the company has left out the tax deduction on the severance package as the employees would be receiving a meagre amount despite serving for several years.

The Ford India factory has been shut since August 31 and so far, there are no employees present at the unit now. Only businesses like after sales (service), sale of parts are being done now. We are not even allowed to enter the factory. They are just asking us to accept the offer they have made," a union representative told PTI.

Another employee told the publication that the company has sent a copy of the severance package settlement as a courier to the residences of the employees so that the family will also accept it. "Our main point is that the severance package announced by the company is not acceptable. We are discussing on September 13 in the presence of district labour authorities on these issues," the employee said.

He revealed that on the severance package, very few senior employees would receive a package of about ₹80 lakh while people who have served for nearly 20 years would only receive something around ₹44 lakh and these amounts are without the deduction of taxes.