Ford to Restart Chennai Plant: Former Workers Hope for Reemployment

With the US based auto major Ford Motor Company announcing its decision to restart production at its Chennai plant, former workers are also eager to know whether they would be able to reenter the factory as workers.

Phones of former Ford India’s workers began to ring to check out their chances of rejoining the company.

“Ever since the Ford Motor Company announced its decision to restart production at its Chennai plant people have been calling on the prospects of rejoining Ford India,” K.Selvaraj, former President of Chennai Ford Employees Union (CFEU) said while welcoming the announcement.

“Not only former colleagues, others like friends and relatives are calling me to check out on reemployment,” A. Satish Kumar, a former Officer Bearer of the worker’s union said.

According to the former Ford India workers, their reemployment depends on the agreement that the Union had signed with the Ford India management at the time of signing the severance package agreement.

“There is a provision in the agreement that the company management will give preference to the workers if production is restarted at the plant within three years from the date of the agreement. The provision has a rider, that is, the rehiring will be based on the company’s assessment of the worker’s efficiency, knowledge and other attributes. This provision may be sought to be implemented through a court. The Union had also signed off its relationship with the company,” a Union office bearer said.


Continuing further he said everything is unclear as Ford Motor has just announced its decision to restart production and it will take some more time to actualise the announcement.

Again the chances of reemployment depends on the model under which Ford Motor would restart its Chennai plant operations – under Ford India or as a joint venture or under another model.

With the average age of the workers at the time of the Chennai plant closure in the region of 35-40 only a few experienced hands in the quality control, maintenance may be hired, it is said.


Further if Ford decides to roll out just the Endeavour model from the Chennai plant then only about 200 workers would be needed. But if EcoSport and other models are to be made then the headcount would increase, he added.

Be that as it may, the other question that needs to be answered is whether Ford would be needing 300 acres to run its operations which is expected to be on a reduced scale.

On September 13, 2024, Ford announced that it has given its Letter of Intent to the Tamil Nadu government to utilise the Chennai plant for manufacturing for export.


The announcement follows a meeting between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin and Ford officials in the US.

According to Ford, the Chennai plant will be repurposed for restarting production and the type of manufacturing and other details will be disclosed in course of time.

Ford also said its Global Business Operations in Tamil Nadu has a headcount of about 12,000 and in three years time, the number will increase by 2,500 to 3,000.


According to the US auto major, combined with the engine manufacturing operations in Sanand in Gujarat, India represents Ford’s second largest salaried workforce worldwide.

In September 2021, Ford India announced its decision to wind down vehicle assembly in Gujarat's Sanand vehicle and engine manufacturing in Chennai.

Ford India had set up four plants in the country -- vehicle and engine plants in Chennai and Sanand.


The company sold its Gujarat facility for Rs 725.70 crore to Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd.

The plant in Sanand includes the entire land and buildings, the vehicle manufacturing plant, along with its machinery and equipment, and transfer of all eligible employees of Ford India's vehicle manufacturing operations.

Ford India is operating its powertrain manufacturing facility by leasing back the land and buildings of the powertrain manufacturing plant from Tata Passenger Electric.


At the time of Chennai plant’s closure, there were 2,592 permanent employees.

Except for some workers, all others have agreed and accepted the severance package announced by Ford India.

It is learnt about 57 workers have refused the severance package and have gone to the court.

Balasundaram Radhakrishnan, Transformation Officer, Ford India had earlier said the final settlement package (an average equivalent of 140 days of gross wages per completed year of service and additional Rs 1.5 lakh lumpsum per employee) signed translates to an average of about 5.2 years/62-month of salary for each employee (from a minimum of 4.1 years i.e., 49 months to a maximum of 9 years i.e., 108 months).

The cumulative severance for each employee will range from a minimum amount of Rs 34.5 lakh and a maximum cap of Rs 86.5 lakh, Ford India had said earlier.