Paycheques Of Employees At Bajaj Auto's Aurangabad Plant Set To Be Cut Down By 50 Per Cent

One of the biggest two-wheeler automobile manufacturers in the nation, Bajaj Auto has planned to implement a deep 50 per cent wage cut for its workers at the Waluj facility in Maharashtra's Aurangabad which has announced a total lockdown from 10-18 July, reports Hindu Businessline.

It should be noted that Bajaj Auto's facility in Aurangabad has already witnessed nearly 300 of its employees testing positive for COVID-19, of whom five have succumbed to death.

The worker unions on Saturday (4 July) had demanded that the plant be temporarily closed for a few weeks in light of the rapid infection spread. The plant's management though has reportedly insisted on continuing operations for six days a week.

Earlier, the company had also reportedly sent a letter to the employees stating that it will not pay employees who do not come to work.

"If an employee remains absent at office or plant due to any reason despite being asked by the company...then his or her salary would be deducted 100 per cent during the period", said the letter.

The announcement of shutdown, however, comes as a setback for Company's managing director (MD) Rajiv Bajaj who has repeatedly asserted on different interviews why he believes that imposing a lockdown and halting the economic activity to control the pandemic was an incorrect strategy. He had also tried to justify the same in an interview he gave to Congress' former president Rahul Gandhi.

Meanwhile, Aurangabad's overall tally stands at 7,000 cases with over 200 deaths.