Tata Motors’ Union extends support to Ratan Tata

Mumbai, Dec 15:

Tata Motors Employees Union has come out in support of Tata Sons’ interim Chairman Ratan Tata and stated that they have lost faith in the leadership of ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry.

The 7,250-member-strong Union rubbished allegations made by Mistry in his letter to the shareholders of the group firms that a ‘key reform measure’ was undermined to get the trade unions’ support.

The Union, in a letter issued on Wednesday, stated that the loss of confidence in Mistry resulted from its members remaining unconvinced of the ‘Measure for Performance’ initiative even after 16 meetings were held on the issue.

“Keeping in mind the fact that in spite of verbal assurance given by our seniors in the management that an amicable settlement would be arrived at within a fortnight and since over 15 months have passed with no concrete action taken, the Union has now lost faith in Mistry’s leadership which is often deliberately misleading,” the letter from Tata Motors’ Union stated.

Emphasising the need for workmen and management to be two sides of a well-balanced equation in any company, the letter by the Union expressed shock that a person of Mistry’s stature would resort to such ‘immature actions’.

“The management and the workmen are not two opposites, but rather two sides of a well-balanced equation,” the letter elaborated.

“Henceforth, the Tata Motors Employees’ Union and all its workmen will support Ratan Tata.”

The Tata Motors Union also denounced inferences in Mistry’s earlier communication that their office bearers’ calling on Tata would in turn impact the ongoing discussions between the management of Tata Motors and the Tata Motors Employees’ Union on the “Productivity-Linked Wage Settlement”.

The Union, in its letter, termed the allegation as a ‘lie’ and said the meeting with Tata on November 10, 2016 was planned well in advance and not one to negotiate a deal.

At the meeting, Tata had appealed to all the workers of Tata Motors to work hard for the benefit of the company.

The Union explained that it did not discuss any issue or topic related to long-term wage settlement.

The letter also specifically placed focus on the ‘Settlements’ of 2003, 2006 and 2009 under the leadership of Tata, where the Union had accepted quality, productivity, safety and profit-linked wage agreement linked to the prosperity of the company, which showed continuous improvements till 2012.

The Union’s letter comes a day after Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) removed Tata Sons’ ousted Chairman Mistry from its board of Directors.

On Tuesday, more than 93 per cent shareholders of TCS had voted to remove Mistry as Director of the company in its extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM).

Earlier, Tata Industries removed Mistry from its board of directors. The company had taken the decision at its EGM held on Monday.

Several other Tata Group companies, including Tata Motors, have called EGMs to decide whether or not to remove Mistry from their respective boards.

On December 13, Tata Sons had hiked its stake in Tata Motors as it bought five crore additional shares at Rs 486.13 per share.

At the end of the last quarter on September 30, Tata Sons held 26.98 per cent stake in the company, while the complete promoter group had a holding of 33.01 per cent in Tata Motors.

The consolidation in Tata Sons’ stake in its automobile subsidiary comes after Tata Motors called an EGM on December 22 to decide whether or not to remove Tata Sons’ ousted Chairman Mistry as a Director from its board.

Tata Sons had earlier asked Mistry to follow his own assertions on corporate governance and step down from the boards of Tata companies.

Tata Sons’ board ousted Mistry on October 24 and appointed Ratan Tata as the interim Chairman. (IANS)