General Motors India Layoffs: General Motors India laid off workers sue company’s global CEO

Barra and several others have been named in a contempt of court case.

GM has failed to pay the 1086 retrenched workers part of General Motors Employee Union, compensatory wages of 50% of their monthly salary starting April last year, as ordered by a local industrial court while it continues to hear the dispute, according to a filing to the High Court of Bombay dated Jan 16. Till date not a single rupee has been paid to the workers, the workers claim.

“Considering that Pune’s Industrial Court’s order was to be implemented from April 2022, the amount that GM owes to the workers totals to Rs25 crore,” a member of the union told ET.

In addition to Barra the employee’s union have included Shilpan Amin, senior vice president and and president of General Motors International along with Asif Khatri, VP and whole-time director, Ritu Pandey Chatterjee, HR Director, Prajot Gaonkar, HR head/plant director, General Motors India for contempt of court caseTwo years after the last car rolled off the assembly lines at General Motors India Pune plant, the US car maker’s struggle to sell the factory continues. Its deal with Great Wall Motors collapsed last year and the legal tussle with the employees continues.

In an email response, GM India’s spokesperson said that it is continuing to explore options for the sale of the site. The plant remains a well-maintained state-of-the-art industrial site, with strong linkages into supply chain and transport networks.

“Employees have been legally separated and we remain very confident of our legal position,” the spokesperson said.The Pune Industrial Court had ordered payment of 50% of the salary from April 7, 2022, till the final decision of the case. The company challenged this order in the Bombay High Court and after the Bombay High Court’s verdict in favour of workers in September, General Motors India had challenged the same in the Supreme Court. This too was redirected back to Pune Industrial Court. Back then the country’s apex court had directed the Industrial Court in Pune to conclude the long-protracted battle within next four months i.e January 2023.