Jamshedpur : Despite the ongoing heavy �demand and production� slump in the auto sector, the 7000 odd employees of Tata Motors commercial vehicle plant here would not only get a salary hike of up to Rs. 9052 from September but also get one time arrear payment up to Rs. 45000, official sources said today.
Apart from this the 4000 odd non-permanent workers of the plant that manufactures trucks, trippers, trailers and other multi axel vehicles would also get an uniform hike of Rs. 1500. Chandrabhan Singh, general secretary of the Telco workers union, the sole recognized trade union of the plant, said as per the wage revision agreement of August 26 the minimum gross increase in the salary was Rs. 7530 and maximum was Rs. 9052 with the retrospective effect of April 1, 2013 for a period of three years.
�The actual benefit would start with September salary which would most likely be disbursed by October 4. Apart from this the one time arrear (between Rs. 37000 to 45000) would also be paid with the salary next month. The employees were happy that they would get the benefits despite the bleak scenario in the auto sector,� Mr. Singh said adding that the demand was still poor compelling the plant to bring down the production target to as low as 3500 per month against the normal days figure of 12 to 15 thousand.
Due to weak demand, the plant was forced to take five block closures last fiscal. It has already taken first such closure of the current financial year from August 29 to 31 for the same reasons. Despite this the company has also regularized the services of its 250 non-permanent workers of which 200 are associated with the Tata Motors plant here and remaining 50 to the TML driveline, a fully owned subsidiary of the company.