Sacked General Motors Workers In India Sue The Company And CEO

New Delhi: 

A union in India has sued General Motors’ local unit and its global CEO for failing to pay court-ordered compensation to sacked factory workers, deepening the U.S. automaker’s struggles to exit the country years after it shuttered local operations.

GM stopped selling cars in India in 2017 after years of low sales but its complete exit from the market has been marred by complications including legal tussles with workers and failure to find a buyer for a plant in Maharashtra after talks with China’s Great Wall Motor collapsed last year.

GM and the factory workers – who allege illegal termination after the company decided to exit – have been locked in legal battles since 2021.

The latest filing signals an escalation in the dispute as workers accuse GM’s India unit and its executives, including CEO Mary Barra, of failing to follow court orders.

In a filing to the Bombay High Court dated Jan 16, the General Motors Employees Union of 1,086 factory workers states the company has failed to pay them compensatory wages of 50% of their monthly salary starting April last year, as ordered by a local industrial court while it continues to hear the dispute, the documents show.