Nagpur: Industries may have to prune force

Ashish Roy | TNN | Updated: Apr 15, 2020, 14:57 IST

These security guards posted at Godrej Anandam neither care to wear masks nor maintain social distancing

NAGPUR: With prime minister Narendra Modi extending the lockdown till May 3, factories around Nagpur may see layoffs in the coming days. According to several local industrialists, many firms are simply not in a position to pay full salaries to their entire workforce. Industrialists are hoping that they be at least allowed to operate their units partially under the graded relaxation plan.
The first to go will be the contract workers, who get the lowest salaries and are most vulnerable. In most factories, regular employees have to be paid 50% salary if they are sacked.
An industrial consultant told TOI on the condition of anonymity that industrialists were consulting lawyers whether the state government had the powers to ask them to pay full salaries to their employees when the plants were shut. “The lawyers have opined that government has no such powers, especially when it is not giving any relief to the industries. Retrenchments are going to happen in the coming days as companies have suffered unbearable losses,” he said, adding that governments should have given relief to industrialists in either power bills or bank loans or taxes.
An office-bearer of an industrial association said that while companies had paid full salaries for the month of March, many were not in a position to do so for the month of April. “Now with the extension of the lockdown, industrialists have started thinking of pruning their workforce. Contract workers will be sacked first as they don’t have to be paid 50% salary. If the lockdown is extended till May, then the situation will go out of control,” he added.
An office-bearer of Vidarbha Industrial Association (VIA) said that the body was planning to write to the state government seeking permission to lay off workers. “We are not earning anything. We are unable to sell our products and neither are we getting money for the goods already sold. Our customers are not giving us any money citing cash crunch due to the lockdown,” he added.
A unit owner from Akola said that there was no talk on layoffs among the city’s industrialists as most of them operated food product factories. “Our business has not been affected as we produce essential commodities and our units are functioning as usual. So Akola will be spared of the pain of retrenchments,” he told TOI.
Builders claim that there were no plans to layoff people as their apex body, Credai, had issued directives to its members to pay construction workers full salaries and also feed and house them. “Our office staff, too, is being paid full salary,” said builder Ashok Chandak.
Labour commissioner Vijay Panbude said that so far, the state and central governments had asked employers not to lay off workers. “Right now, the government has prohibited retrenchment. We will send a legal notice to anyone who sacks his employees. However, if there are any changes in the directives, we will act accordingly,” he told TOI.