The Hindu Business Line : Dunlop holds out hope on restarting Ambattur unit

The Dunlop India Ltd management has assured workers that the factory here would be reopened and production resumed soon, according to representatives of the Dunlop Factory Employees Union.

The factory at Ambattur was closed recently following, what the management described was an `unjustifiably' high power cost levied by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board.

At discussions between the management and the union here, Dunlop officials have assured that the production would be resumed - the date of resumption is likely to be confirmed on Monday. The chances restarting production in 10-15 days are "bright", they have said, according to union representatives.

Wage disbursal

The management has also allayed fears of any delays in wage disbursal. With Friday being the payday, officials have said that the salary for the month would be disbursed but that the workers may have to put up with a delay of a day or two, they said.

DFEU leaders have informed the management that the workers are committed to resuming work. They urged that only with production would workers' confidence be restored. Wage disbursal cannot be sustained without production, they said.

Cost-cutting

The workers have also suggested measures to keep costs down. Costs could be cut by letting the employees take up some of the work of refurbishing the equipment that had been lying idle. The work is now being contracted out. Also, the management was depending on the expensive option of tanker water supply for production but there were several wells lying in disuse in land belonging to the factory. These could be brought into use, they said.

According to Dunlop's official spokesperson, the management was confident of resuming production in about a week's time. The only issue that needs to be sorted out is the high power cost levied by the State Electricity Board. Raw material was in sufficient supply and the management and workers were in complete agreement on production.

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