Weeks after India's oldest car maker Hindustan Motors (HM) suspended operations at its Uttarpara plant in West Bengal, signalling the end of the road for the iconic Ambassador car, the company has now terminated the services of around 240 of its managerial staff.
The company, however, retained some staff in disciplines such as finance and HR, according to agency reports. Quoting company sources, agencies said that the termination notices to the staff were served on Friday (June 6). The company employs around 2,300 workers and it had suspended operations at its Uttarpara plant on May 24.
When contacted a company spokesperson said, "managerial restructuring has been an on-going process over the last 2-3 years and continues in an effort to optimise work flow whilst retaining staff that remains critical to the continuity of operations."The Uttarpara plant manufactured the Ambassador cars - the symbol of India's officialdom - whose demand in the market over the years dwindled owing to the onset of stiff competition from Japanese and Korean players.
Commenting on the termination of the managerial staff, HR professionals were of the opinion that this action on the part of the existing top management would create a psychological impact in the minds of the workers."The workers will now have a feeling that since the managerial staff were retrenched, so there are little hopes of reopening," a senior HR professional said.
He further said that "as the workers were not getting their wages, so it will now be easier on the part of the management to come up with a separation scheme, and in all probability, workers will be mentally induced to accept that."In that case, the liability of the company would get reduced to a large extent with no decrease in assets. "It will probably be in a better situation to rope in a new investor for revival of the plant," he added.Meanwhile, the West Bengal labour department has called a tripartite meeting on June 12.