The Tamil Nadu government recently published the terms of reference for arbitration on the dispute between car maker Renault Nissan Automotive and its union Renault Nissan India Thozhilalar Sangam (RNITS). The Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd and its workers union created history by going in for an arbitration to settle wage revision and other aspects, said a union official.

This is the first time that an industrial dispute in a multinational company will be decided by arbitration under Section 10A of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 in this part of the country, a union official told IANS.

Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd is the car production joint venture between French company Renault and Japan's Nissan Motor Company. The arbitrator is retired Madras High Court Judge P. Jyothimani and the fee will be Rs 150,000 per sitting to be paid by the company. The arbitrator will decide on the 53 demands raised both by RNITS (38 demands) and Renault Nissan Automotive management (15 demands).

Earlier, senior officials of Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health had inspected the car plants of Renault Nissan Automotive India to arrive at the uniform social distancing norms at the shopfloor level. The Madras High Court had on June 8 ordered the Directorate of Industrial Safety to visit the Renault Nissan Automotive's factory and also other comparable passenger vehicle makers located near Chennai to arrive at a uniform guideline.

"The officials from the Directorate of Industrial Safety inspected the plant in the evening after 4.30 p.m. when we were not there. We wanted to voice our views to the inspecting team," M Moorthy, General Secretary, Renault Nissan India Thozhilalar Sangam (RNITS), told IANS. According to him, the management is not talking with the union despite the requests and hence the court case.