VADODARA: General Motors (GM) India, subsidiary of US-based car major General Motors Company, shut down its manufacturing plant at Halol on Friday. GM will now manufacture from its Talegaon plant in Maharashtra. However, unhappy over compensation, a section of workers is now planning to stage dharna at the Halol facility from Monday.The US automobile giant had in 2015 announced the closure of the facility by mid-2016. After having extended the period for shutdown to ensure a smooth transition, the company last month set the deadline of April 28 to close the plant that began production in 1996."We are mindful of the impact on our employees at Halol. We have committed to support them through this necessary transition with generous separation payments or the option of continuity of employment at Talegaon," said Kaher Kazem, GM India president and managing director.Kazem said that a range of additional support measures had been put in place for both the employees who opted for the significantly enhanced separation payments and those who will move to, including tax and financial advice and pre-transfer visits, to Talegaon. Kazem said, "Since we first announced in 2015 that we would cease manufacturing at Halol, we have worked with all stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition."Over last few weeks, workers at GM were reporting for work but were observing fast to protest against the management.The General Motors Workers Union (GMEU), however, isn't impressed with the compensation offered by the company. "We will be staging dharna at the plant from Monday and our agitation will now be against the state govern ment that failed to protect our interest," GMEU treasurer Dilip Chaudhary told TOI. GM has been in talks with China's SAIC Motor Corporation to sell the plant but no deal has been struck so far."We had demanded a higher compensation as many of the workers won't get good employment opportunities here. The management gave us transfer letters on Friday but there was no clarity about salary hike if the workers shift to the Talegaon plant. The shutdown will affect nearly 2,000 workers," said Chaudhary. "But we didn't disrupt the work and instead made 60 cars on the last day," Chaudhary added.

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