Vivo sacks 20 employees, angry staff clashes with security guards

The workers at a mobile phone factory in Greater Noida turned violent on Tuesday evening when the company’s management sacked over 60 workers without any prior notice.

Over the last couple of months, after Indian Premier League cricket tournament was concluded, Vivo company handed over pink slips to over a thousand workers. The Chinese handset maker has been one of the official sponsors of the 10th edition of IPL this year.

The growing resentment among the workers took a violent turn on Tuesday, when one of the guards of the company allegedly slapped a worker after he asked about his job.

Soon after the incident, thousands of workers gathered and staged a protest against the errant policies of the company. The workers inside the factory also broke windowpanes of the building and cell phone assembly units in the factory.

Police at the Vivo factory in Greater Noida. (HT)

A clash between security guards and workers continued outside the company gates for about half an hour, before the police took over. Some workers reportedly received minor injuries during the clash.

According to one of the workers, who was fired by the company on Tuesday, the company hired many workers during IPL season, and started laying them off when the season concluded. He said that the company has sacked over a thousand employees in the last few months and has plans to fire 2,000 more.

Gautam Budh Nagar’s Senior Superintendent of Police, Love Kumar, said, “The situation is under control. We have asked the workers not to indulge in any kind of violence and have also asked company to mend their policies.”

Vivo officials were not available for comments.

“In last couple of months, the cell phone maker has handed pink slips to over thousand workers and plans to axe about 2000 more in near future. Given the sensitivity of the matter, we shall post police personnel near the IT park on Wednesday morning,” said Suniti, Superintendent of Police (Rural)

According to Manmohan Sharma, an official of World Trade Centre (IT Park complex), where the Vivo factory is situated, the company had asked its employees to leave after lunch as they did not have much work. The workers staged a protest and attacked security guards of the commercial complex who did not let them enter the factory.

“We are told by the VIVO officials that the employees who created a ruckus are on contractual basis, so no notices were served to them prior to sacking. They attacked security guards and ransacked the building. The estimated loss to the building owing to the attack is of around Rs 10-12 lakh. We shall identify the attackers through CCTV and lodge FIR against them,” said Sharma.