Private security and Police personnel at the Vivo’s manufacturing facility in Greater Noida on Tuesday. (Express photo/Satyadeep Singh)
Around 8 am on Tuesday, 22-year-old Sushil Kumar had reached mobile company Vivo’s assembling unit in Greater Noida, where he has been working as a production line operator since January. Hours later, his name was announced along with 19 others from his production line. “They asked us to sit in the tea room and told us that we had been fired,” Kumar said.
In the afternoon, over 100 contractual employees of the company gathered on its premises, angered at the alleged series of mass layoffs, and got involved in a ‘minor clash’ with security personnel. Till late Tuesday night, no FIR had been registered in the case.
“The company is assessing the damage on the second floor. Once it is done, they will submit a complaint to us and an FIR will be lodged,” said Nishank Sharma, DSP, Greater Noida (2nd).
By evening, the company’s premises turned into a fortress with heavy police presence and private security guards monitoring people entering or leaving the building. Meanwhile, employees who had been fired waited for negotiations between the management, their representatives and police to end.
“These are contractual workers hired by a third party. Their complaint is that they were fired without prior notice. They have a hand-to-mouth existence and this was the fourth time such a situation arose. Today, around 50 of them were laid off. We have asked the management to ensure that employees are given a month’s notice or at least a month’s salary if such a step is to be taken. They have assured us this will be done,” Sharma said.
A Vivo spokesperson said, “The layoff is in line with our business decision. We have strictly adhered to the rules, regulations and the contract. We are taking the right steps to ensure a peaceful transition, keeping their best interests in mind.”
With a monthly salary of about Rs 7,000, production line operators at Vivo work in an eight-hour shift. Most like Kumar take up rooms in nearby areas of Pari Chowk, Haldwani and Salarpur, and travel to the office every day by bus. “Most of us are production line operators. We have been fired at a time when we have no other job opportunity, as companies are not hiring due to GST,” said Ravi Kumar, who hails from Ambala in Haryana.
Ravi said he completed an industrial training course after school and joined Vivo in March this year. “Since July 12, I was made to sit in the charging room without any work. Till day before yesterday, our attendance was being marked. That stopped yesterday. We asked them about it today. I used to work in the 2205 line where all 60 people were fired,” he said.
