[Hayek]

Don’t see an issue with any kind of industry where work cannot be done from home remaining open if the government allows the same.

Most work in Banks (not retail counters) can be done from home - so if Banks asked employees to report to work without a reasonable cause, that would be unethical. But manufacturing cannot be done from home - and hence as long as the company follows reasonable safety protocols and looks to get all employees vaccinated as soon as possible, they are doing the right thing.

We have to balance the economy and safety. Unnecessary risks such as the Khumbh Mela, Election Rallies (by all parties), Large Weddings etc must be avoided. But we can’t stop car manufacturers from producing cars or for that matter stop other manufacturing industries either.

[narayans80]

Lot of posts here are mapping OEMs only to sales. What we are not factoring is the tons of vehicles (cars, bikes, trucks) on the road that cannot sit and wait for parts. This movement is responsible for putting food on table, transporting our essential service workers, taking us to hospitals. How do we expect live without all this happening around?

Car, Bike, Commercial vehicle OEMs and the suppliers cannot afford to shutdown, they have to run albeit at reduced strength to keep the country running.

I believe all of us working from a computer cannot afford to stay without pay or even reduced pay. So how are we expecting manufacturing employees/contractors to run their families without pay?

[coriollis]

If industries stop working there is loss of GST to the government. The collection of GST ensures funds availability for the government, that can be spent on covid related expenses.

I have a SSI unit. Last years lockdown at March end resulted in tax loss of around 50 lakhs to government. This is just from one SSI unit, So the impact is obviously huge
I don't think only income tax collection would suffice the need.

So in my opinion the industries working is absolutely ethical.

AB

[RedTerrano]

The hidden repercussions of ethical lockdowns.

Domestic air travel set to become costlier, govt raises lower limit on fares by 13-16%...The move is aimed at helping the airlines amid a devastating second wave of COVID-19 which has reduced air travel significantly.

Today it's the aviation industry.
Tomorrow it could very well be the automobile industry.
It's either this or bankruptcy.

We have vaccines now. Ensure regular and adequate supply.
Flood the streets and public places with cops, like you did last year to ensure citizens comply with masks and social distancing.
Most important let commerce commence. Work is the only way people and in turn the nation can survive. Else we are doomed.

[Fiestaboy]

I also work in one of the Automobile companies in TamilNadu.

In terms of safety precautions, I can't comment on other companies, but I see that my organization takes 100% precaution in every areas.
Right from Mar-2020, every employee is provided clinical, disposable mask every day till now.
One person in 1 seat of a bus, clear demarcation in lunch queue, all eating places have temp walls to separate every one during the dining & lot of other feature as well.
If any one employee or their home members are unwell, persons who worked with them were also given leave last year as a precaution.

Coming to the nature of work, unlike Police, Hospital, service industry - here you don't need to talk with others in a manufacturing place, though at times you might want to communicate some messages. On the other side, though you don't speak with others, you are constantly working with people all around the shift time.

Employees have probability to speak with others mostly only during break.
Employees are picked up in company transport unlike general mode of transport.

Hence probability of getting an infection is minimal & last year statistics shows the same.
However, the exponential increase of COVID cases this year in TamilNadu, brings fear in employees mind regardless of work place nature & that is fully understandable.

I am working in design and hence my views are fully based on my visits to the plants during recent times & hence I might not have covered their point of view.

[car_addict]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

I too work for an automobile manufacturer. And what bugs me the most is, despite being in the design team with a laptop and round the clock virtual availability, many of us are being forced to come to the factory just so that bosses feel safe that there is a team available at the plant 'if' something goes wrong.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

This is really really stupid. Such companies need to be named and shamed.

Ah!!! The words from the privileged with laptops. I am a shopfloor GM and had the same discussion with our privileged colleagues. Our factory is working as we are making components for food industry, gas compressors and defence (all essential).

Imagine the same situation from an shop floor employee/manager who has to come to work & cannot work from laptops. Given the choice, I would also like to stay home and work.

Things do go wrong & there are certain circumstance which are emergency. The morale of the workplace took a steep fall when the design guys tried to troubleshoot with Whatsapp video calls, to the point of a strike. What decisions would take a few minutes, stretched to days.

All the Shop floor Workers had only one question - "How is it fair that the lives of ones with the laptops be valued more than those who jobs require us to come work? Does that mean that I can get Corona and suffer, but god forbid, the ones with laptops should not get it. If I can come to work and be safe, so can the guys sitting in design. They also have the luxury of working with big social distancing spaces".

From their perspective, it is the privileged ones sitting in Ivory A/C Towers with laptops, taking care of themselves & not caring about the lives of the workers.

Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to put the view of a humble shop floor employee.

There are many ways you can be safe and still continue to work (Currently 0 cases in our factories since the last 3 months with everybody working).

[Arun_S]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

If the Govt has granted approval to run a factory there is no question of ethics on the subject IMHO. If people are falling ill the root cause is in the environment, the indiscipline, the confused Govt actions etc not in rightness or wrongness of operating a plant with due approvals under the prevailing law.

Sir, I would agree with you on this. The Govt should go ahead clearly say how the manufacturing units should operate. It should not be a general term like follow Covid appropriate protocols.

As it was pointed in post by TurboHead, they can ask the companies to accommodate all their employees in some halls thereby reducing contact with outside world until they and their family are vaccinated fully. I strongly feel all employees will accept this as they all will get salary.

[vivek95]

I am a Covid ICU Doctor and I have votes Yes. Its absolutely ethical to keep things going on with all due precautions in place. For this Covid disease in particular, its absolutely ethical to move on with normal life without compromising on precautions, period !!

[AirbusCapt]

It is unethical to deny any person his livelihood. If you want a person not to work and stay at home, the government better pay his/her full salary for that time. They have zero ethics in enforcing a lockdown and expecting people to fend for themselves. The right to livelihood is a fundamental right so to speak.
it's easy to talk lockdown lockdown sitting in an AC room, getting full salary and working on a computer provided by your company. The day you lose your job or salary, I want to see if you will sing the same lockdown song?

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

I too work for an automobile manufacturer.

And since the design teams work on cars that will come to production sometime later, it is not as if we not being available will affect the sales of the company this month. But car manufacturers prefer to hold the launch time-lines, rather than compassion or humanity closer to their hearts. And that, is not ethical!

Originally Posted by Fiestaboy

I also work in one of the Automobile companies in TamilNadu.
I am working in Design & hence my views are fully based on my visits to the plants during recent times & hence I might not have covered their point of view.

Interesting to see contradictory opinions from people working in the the same department.

We have a had a lot of these discussions last year around the same time and I don't think there is evergoing to be an agreement on this.

The folks getting paid working from home will all be for the lockdown ( the stricter the better ) since they have an army of low income workers braving the covid to get all the stuff delivered home. I just saw a guy delivering a crate of beer to someone at the gates of my apartment today. Talk about essentials!!

The others who are seeing the business and livelihood shattered will be for lifting the blanket lockdown and running the business with protocols in place.

For those promoting strict lockdowns, will you support it if your employer tells you to work from office (with social distancing ) or no pay? If you are in business, how long have you shut it down with full pay for all your employees?

Some of them will bring up the issue of kids at home. In fact, that is a bigger issue I see with the psychological impact on them. In many of the western countries, they kept the schools open when the offices were closed.

[TrackDay]

This is an issue which has different implications for different people. If we were to put a label on what is 'Essential' I am pretty sure a lot more jobs or work during this pandemic would go out of the window. Take for instance food delivery apps or service providers delivering fast food or junk food that is not an essential. Their menu should be labelled as essential foods and non essential foods. If we go that route a lot more items would disappear from the shopping lists of e-commerce sites as well online supermarkets. What about TV streaming and OTT entertainment ? There are a ton of support staff that work on site to keep the service running. They too can avail to stay at home and skip work since it is not 'essential'. If we go that route a lot of service would get trimmed.

Then there is the basic statement that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Money has to be generated from somewhere to distribute it. Unless business owners have Aladdin's magic lamp I don't see it practical to keep their business shut down and pay their employees. It is always important to see two sides of the coin. The best way to move ahead would be to be strict with ensuring protocols are followed everywhere. But the moment these numbers go down, all measures are lapsed and people rarely follow the rules.

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by m8002?

Interesting to see contradictory opinions from people working in the the same department.

We have a had a lot of these discussions last year around the same time and I don't think there is evergoing to be an agreement on this.

Of course, that is the beauty of a forum. We will have various differing POVs of the same issue and we will have to respect everybody's opinion (regardless of agreeing or disagreeing)

I am not averse to going to work or visiting the plant at all - but I am just saying that manufacturers should call in resources based on 'need'. There is a serious pandemic now, and this is definitely not the right time to be arm-twisting using hierarchy or playing power-politics games. I cannot go to the plant to inflate somebody's ego, that is my point.

[Kosfactor]

I would expect the government to pay my salary if they stop me from working for a living.

From food to medical care, everything has a price to pay - stopping the very process of creating wealth won't help.

[Fiestaboy]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Of course, that is the beauty of a forum. We will have various differing POVs of the same issue and we will have to respect everybody's opinion (regardless of agreeing or disagreeing).

Fully agree. It differs for every people in same organization & between different organizations as its purely individual's view.
I had even said that I work in design & persons working in plant (Manufacturing) will have different views, because they are constantly exposed to workplace & I visit only based on work.

[jeygani]

Voted Yes.
When banks/groceries/hospitals etc. are functioning there is nothing wrong in Automobile OEMs being allowed to function. Employees working in these OEMs have a right to livelihood and it is essential for them to earn for a living.