In July 2015, General Motors announced that it will shutter its Halol plant in India as a result of a decision to consolidate vehicle production operations at its plant in the city of Talegaon. At the time, the automaker’s target date of shuttering the Halol facility was mid-2016 in order “to ensure an orderly transition for employees, suppliers and other stakeholders.” Fast forward almost a year, and the official date for Halol plant’s closure is April 28, 2017 — almost a full year after the initial planned date.
According to reports from the Indian press, the reason for the year-long extension is that the majority of the plant’s 650 employees did not accept the Voluntary Separation Offer, which tendered employees 100 days of wages: workers were offered Rs 8-10 lakh ($1,225 – $1,530 USD) while supervisors were offered Rs 35-40 lakh ($5,360 – $6,125 USD), according to a GM Halol plant employee speaking with the India Times. Employees are also receiving financial counseling and tax advice, while some Halol wokers are transferring to the Talegaon facility.
Recently, top GM India leaders met with senior government officials to discuss details of the Halol plant’s closure.
“GM has decided to close their plant as per their business decision. The state government has allowed the company to wind up its operation on the assurance that they would resolve all issues related to workers,” said JN Singh, chief secretary of the government of the state of Gujarat, in which Halol is located.
In other words, GM can only shutter Halol having resolved all worker-related issues — which it apparently has had trouble doing.
Further Information and Reporting
- GM Halol plant information
- GM Talegaon plant information
- GM India headquarters information
- GM India Technical Center information
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