(Pooja Dubey, Intern Journalist) The country’s giant PepsiCo India Ltd has decided to close its production unit in Kerala. Varun Beverages, the franchisee who runs the bottling plant at Kanjikode in Palakkad, has issued a closure notice on Tuesday.
PepsiCo has had to shut down the factory due to the lockdown and continuous protests by workers due to the Corona crisis. This has led to the loss of livelihood of the laborers working in the factory. The joint trade union started a movement to demand a wage increase.
On March 22, the company closed the factory. This was followed by a nationwide lockout due to the outbreak of Covid-19, which further aggravated the crisis. In the lockout notice issued on March 21, the company had said that the situation has not improved since the notice issued on March 6, 2020.
Noting signs of future improvement, the notice noted that even after the Kerala High Court ordered police protection, the situation is very serious and the risk of a criminal attack is high. Permanent workers, who conduct production, are on an illegal strike because they are not performing work as directed by management. Management is suffering a huge loss due to the current situation and there is no sign of any improvement in the situation in the near future.
This has created a crisis over the jobs of more than 120 direct employees and about 250 contractual employees. However, the trade unions allege that the company was refusing to resume its operations despite withdrawing the strike.
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