[Allterrain]

When the new Tamilnadu Government announced statewide lockdown in early May'21, experts felt that it should be a complete lockdown like we had in March-April of 2020. But not surprisingly it was a watered down version of a lockdown where car factories were allowed to operate under the guise of "continuous Process Industry" which were exempted! Tier-1 and Tier-2 suppliers are also working as they are suppliers to these "Continuous Process Industries". Car companies (mainly Hyundai and Renault -Nissan) are betting on so called pent-up demand in the coming months.

But things are not cake-walk for car factories. Workers are getting infected and sizeable number of them are dying. They are also risking the health of their family members who are otherwise following all restrictions and rules.
Now labor unions are up in arms and refusing to cooperate. Hyundai management finally succumbed to these pressures and announced closure up to 30th May. It appears that Renault -Nissan trade union has approached the Madras High Court against this working-during- lockdown.

The questions I would like to ask is : Is it ethical on the part of OEMs to work during lockdown? Is it right on the part of state government to allow this? Is this "pent-up-demand"real and worth the risk?

[Researcher]

This thought had crossed my mind once last year. But if OEMs are shut, there maybe a few issues:

1. Loss of income for employees: No manufacturing means no sales and no revenue. So employees of both OEMs and suppliers will have to dip into their savings for providing for their families.

2. Unavailability of new vehicles and spares for vehicles that are being run: Especially in the commercial segment, there has been a dependency on goods delivery and many truckers have continued their business as usual. Getting spares will be an issue in case manufacturing is stopped. Also due to the pandemic, many had to buy their own vehicles to solve their public transportation woes and risks, which will not be possible if there is no production. However, they should optimise their numbers, as there has been a majority of the months in last year when the production has surpassed registration.

3. Competition: Why will Maruti risk losing numbers when Hyundai is not stopping production? Manufacturers compete with each other and will definitely not spare any market share if others are not budging.

But I strongly feel that many of these deaths could have probably been avoided if we all had been careful. I have seen people being offended when you ask them to properly wear the mask or maintain social distancing.

Also people are used to a certain way of working. One cannot expect a person who has been working in a particular way for 10 years to change and adapt to a new mask+distance way overnight. Mistakes are bound to happen, and sadly the price is very high these days.

All we can do is accept our mistakes and correct them, which seems to hurt the ego of most people I have interacted with in this pandemic since more than a year.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by Allterrain

Is it ethical on the part of OEMs to work during lockdown? Is it right on the part of state government to allow this? Is this "pent-up-demand"real and worth the risk?

Ethical? Absolutely not, if we consider Car as luxury. But in this pandemic situation, clean & safe private transportation is need of the hour.

Apart from the ethics and need of the hour, after all they do business and anything and everything is fair in love, war & business. Renault Nissan could have shut the plant if this was a year ago. Today Nissan has got the final opportunity to sustain in the market with Magnite. With the waiting period of 6+ months, plant shutdown will make them lose the market again.

[GTO]

Absolutely not! Lockdown means only 'essential services' and building cars isn't one. I completely agree with all the workers who protested at Renault-Nissan & Hyundai. The poor workers are simply forced to come to work or face the music. When you live in an almost hand-to-mouth existence, refusing your employer's instructions is not an option.

The OEMs should show more responsibility. I am currently in a hospital accompanying a family member who is admitted for 5 days, and there is no way I would do this if it weren't critical. Despite being at the best hospital in Bombay (Breach Candy) which is following the strictest protocols, I accept that the Covid risk is too high from the many daily interactions. It is just 0930 hours and I have already had 20 people (doctors, nurses & hospital staff only) visit our room since dawn.

[am1m]

As someone whose livelihood has not been affected one bit by the lockdown, and whose job can be done completely from home, it's easy for me to say shut everything down for as long as it takes. (To keep ME safe! )

Dunno if I'd feel the same way if I had reduced/no earnings for more than a year now, a family to keep afloat and no sign of the pandemic situation improving DESPITE the repeated lockdowns.

Definitely employees who don't think it is safe to work shouldn't be forced to work, that is clear. But any chance employees can be given a choice? Some of them might want to work taking whatever precautions that are possible. (But between the government regulations and the union pressure, I guess not!) But then will the car makers be mandated to pay half/a part of the monthly salaries even when there is no work happening? Will the government help with that?

Many questions, no easy/clear-cut answers for anyone- employees, government, manufacturers. (And not sure armchair experts like us can really be aware of the overall situation to take such calls.) Since this an auto forum, would be good to hear from people actually employed in the sector, what do they think?

[giri1.8]

In this case I don't think I will take sides. Covid has been the opposite of win-win situation no matter which decision we take.

On one side we have risk of workers catching covid, on the other side we have risk of immune workers not having the right to earn for their family and for paying their loans on time.

Only way out of this would be to allocate every single resource towards procurement and distribution of vaccines.

[Turbohead]

Ideally speaking, the workers should be given accommodationn in their respective factory and communication/ interaction with the external world should be kept minimum. Basically, the factory should be a 'bubble'.

These are times to be innovative and adaptive to the current situation rather than just plainly closing down a facility because of Covid.

But in the case of Hyundai and Nissan, the facility should be shut for a while since people have already been infected and they are risking the lives of all the employees and their families.

Tough times but I doubt there'll be a pent-up demand as big as last year. The second lockdown is another financial blow to an economy on life support.

[McLaren Rulez]

The government is the problem here, not the OEMs. They are supposed to have the high level overview of the situation and pass appropriate laws.

You cannot expect an OEM to shut down a factory indefinitely while they are still allowed to remain open according to the current policy.

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by Allterrain

car factories were allowed to operate under the guise of "continuous Process Industry" which were exempted! Tier-1 and Tier-2 suppliers are also working as they are suppliers to these "Continuous Process Industries".

Now labor unions are up in arms and refusing to cooperate.

There is no way an automotive assembly line can come anywhere close to "continuous process". However, here are a few points that I have to put across.

1. Having spent most of my life in manufacturing, and being on the job even during the infamous pneumonic plague in 1994 and two bouts of floods, I can say that all this noise created by employees is unwarranted.

2.What is important is to keep the wheel churning, but with all due precautions, like , say, operating the unit with 50% staff, with all due precautions in place. It will be interesting to see if employees are willing to see their units shut, and forego their pay for that period.

3. Think about it - hospital staff don't say they won't work, neither do shopkeepers or other service providers. NDRF does not shy away from relief operations in the most challenging situations, and nor do the forces. The show must go on, although with adequate precautions. Yes, these are tough times, and risks are high, but shying away from work isn't the solution. Essential or non-essential services- threat to loss of life in the pandemic is the same.

4. Look around and one would see that the number of people who adhere to safety protocols in Covid is less than 10%. I was in TN twice, for extended periods over the last eight months, and all I saw was zero compliance to basic Covid protocols; same story almost everywhere.

[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.

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!

[reignofchaos]

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.

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!

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

[DigitalOne]

This is easy to answer.

Were other industries/manufacturers allowed to operate? Examples, cement, appliances, electronics, garments, auto ancillaries etc. If they were allowed, why should only OEM be stopped? Or vice versa.

Too often (understandably in an auto forum) we focus only on auto industry, but rules are generally applicable for all industries. Only pharma or medical allied industries are given special exemptions.

[V.Narayan]

What is the degree of worker/employee infection in power stations, hospitals, Armed Forces, Police in TN? That will give us an indicator if these workers are getting infected because their factory is functioning or because of their own weak individual safety protocol outside the factory. A car manufacturers isn't a continuous process industry any more than the maker of kitchen gadgets but at the same time the State Govt in its discretion gave them the approval to function. When basic public discipline is lax or rather very lax, as I have seen in Chennai recently, then singling out car OEMs simply because they are visible isn't fair.

It is likely, my guess, that the covid safety protocols being followed or required within the factories is stricter than what the workers are following outside the factory including in their homes and localities. As I have said on a similar thread few days ago when unions take action be sure there are many many wheels within wheels within wheels. I have empathy for workers but not the unions. The worker safety is a lighting rod {that no one can argue against} that the unions are using to get other agenda sorted out. That other agenda might be fair and legitimate -I will grant them that benefit of doubt - but safety is not the prime motivator. Unions and managements are like politics, they make strange bed fellows. Having said all the above the workers deserve safety and health and the OEMs would be advised, by me at least, not to dig their heels in at this time.

[GNG19]

If I had to condense my answer to a short one-liner: I don't there's anything inherently unethical about an automobile factory/airport/train station/food delivery etc. service being operational during the pandemic.

Caveat is that COVID protocols should be followed to the greatest extent possible and those who can work from home should be allowed to. Beyond that it's a question of individual livelihoods at stake as well along with one's health.
Agreed with one of the posters above-- it should be a government decision to allow/ban certain activities keeping the big picture in mind.

[ABHI_1512]

Bringing ethics during a lockdown when the government has allowed the OEMs to function and closure of factories which results in loss of income is not exactly the ideal scenario. Just like the OEMs have domestic and export orders to fulfil, there are many sectors like the tea and jute industries where work cannot be stopped and they are functioning with less percentage of workers maintaining the Covid protocols.

Unlike many, the workers in factories are the most vulnerable when factories close down for some reason. The recent incident of Hyundai being dragged to court by the Union for supposedly breaking Covid protocols is a case in point. The Union has every right to protest against any protocol lapse regarding Covid but the workers are not spending their days and nights inside the factories only. Who is responsible for workers, who once out of the factory wouldn't / didn’t maintain the Covid protocols ? The OEM’s certainly can’t be held responsible there I guess !!

A car manufacturing can be termed as a luxury during a lockdown but I don’t see any harm in continuing operations if all the possible safeguards are taken, maintaining all the protocols. Essential services also need mobility I guess.