Chennai: Unless their safety at the factory is ensured, Renault Nissan Automotive India workers decided from May 26 to boycott service, Renault Nissan India Thozhilalar Sangam (RNITS) said.
The RNITS or the Renault Nissan workers’ union informed the company management on Monday in a letter from its joint secretary T Tamizh Kumaran.
Referring to the Madras High Court order in which steps must be taken to reduce the footprints in the office and factory, RNITS says that the company has not taken any steps to reduce the footprints in the company’s factory to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
The Renault Nissan Automotive is a manufacturing plant for joint ventures of the French car Renault and the Nissan Motor Company in Japan.
‘Five employees were killed and about 850 were infected coronavirus since last year at Renault Nissan Automotive, ”said K Balaji Krishnan, President of RITS.
He also said that only 420 employees tested in 2021 alone Covid-19 positive.
“All our workers are young and they are dying. No social distance is maintained at the factory. We have proposed to reduce the number of cars per hour. This in turn would reduce the number of workers per workstation. But the management does not agree, “Krishnan said.
There are about 8,550 workers (about 3,547 technicians, about 2,000 staff, about 2,000 contract workers and about 1,000 apprentices) working at the Renault Nissan Automotive plant nearby.
According to Krishnan, the Union has asked the factory to close until the workers are vaccinated or the demand for beds in the hospitals drops.
Although the car and component manufacturers did not function at the time of the closure of March 2020, they may work with the state government under the ongoing process industries.
‘There is the usual health insurance cover for Rs 2,00,000 for workers and their dependents, but the cover is insufficient because the hospital expenses have been incurred for Covid-19 is very high, ”Krishnan added.
Source: Telangana Today