Lockout at Apollo Outsourced Factory Resolved

Late in the evening of March 4, union and management representatives met in an attempt to parry a continuation of the deadlock over negotiations at PTL Enterprises’ Kalamassery, India tyre manufacturing unit, a plant outsourced to Apollo Tyres. According to Apollo, the meeting resulted in an agreement that the unit would re-enter production on March 6.

As agreed in the previous meeting, held on February 24, the unions remain committed to sorting out 10 of 12 issues at hand within a month of reopening the plant. The two pending issues, those of moving out the mixing process and machinery and increasing the capacity from the current 86 to 98 tonnes per day, have not yet been fully resolved. While the company and unions have agreed upon transferring the mixing process out of the plant, they have not agreed to the movement of the related machinery. The issue of increasing capacity will also be addressed after the plant re-opens.

Speaking on the resolution, Satish Sharma, chief of Apollo Tyres’ India Operations, said, “While all issues have not been concluded, I remain hopeful. At this point in time, it is important to see that the capacity here gets well utilised and the 1000-odd employees return to work in a safe and secure environment. During these times of hardship, ensuring people continue to have jobs and salaries was continuously upper most in our minds, and I am glad that we have reached some level of understanding. Going forward, we will look to the Unions for assistance in enabling us to execute the agreed upon plans.”

The Kalamassery unit in India’s Kerala state produces cross ply commercial tyres, primarily for Apollo Tyres’ export market. The lockout had been in effect since December 6, 2008.