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August 24, 2001
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Money > Reuters > Report August 24, 2001 |
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Quarter of Balco workforce seeks retirementMore than a quarter of India's recently privatised Bharat Aluminium Company's employees have opted for early retirement, but only half of those can expect to get a package, a company official said. Bharat Aluminium or Balco, the country's third-largest aluminium maker, had offered its 6,300 employees a voluntary retirement scheme on July 31 in a bid to reduce operating costs. The offer closed on August 16. "The response to the scheme is good," the official, who declined to be identified, said on Friday. Nearly 1,650 employees, including 650 who had opted for an earlier plan, have responded to the latest offer, he said. "We would not be able to give the package to all the 1,650 employees in one go," he said, adding the applications of nearly 850 would be accepted. The rest may be considered at a later stage but there is no plan at present to reopen the scheme again, he added. Under the VRS package, a worker will be paid an average of Rs 400,000 ($8,489) while an executive will get double this amount, he said. Balco had offered the same plan in January and received about 1,300 applications, of which it allowed only 600 to go. About 50 workers later withdrew their applications. LOSS-MAKING UNIT Out of the total fresh applications, 450 belong to Balco's Bidhanbag unit in West Bengal, the official said, adding the unit currently has 550 employees. It runs a 3,600 tonne-a-year capacity hot and cold rolling mill, an aluminium extrusion plant with an annual capacity of 1,250 tonnes and a 600-tonne aluminium foil plant. "It is a loss-making unit," he said, adding that all the 450 workers of this unit were likely to get the VRS package. The unit is currently incurring a loss of about Rs 150 million annually, he added. The government sold a 51 per cent stake in Balco to Sterlite Industries in February, marking India's first major privatisation in a decade of economic reforms. In early March, employees at its Korba smelter in central Chhattisgarh state went on strike to protest against the sale. The strike ended on May 9 after conciliatory talks between the employees and the new management. ALSO READ:
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