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Bengaluru: The 3,000-odd employees of Technicolor India, who were summarily dismissed on February 26, through a sudden call with absolutely no prior notification are exploring legal recourse and approaching the Karnataka labour department over what they believe were unlawful firings, Sooraj Nidiyanga, Secretary - Karnataka IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) told DH.
The news of the Indian arm of the Paris-based Technicolor Group, shutting shop came days after the global entity filed a court recovery procedure in France after it failed to secure investment, putting its brands MPC, The Mill, Mikros Animation and Technicolor Games at the verge of closure. The group with offices in the US, UK and Canada besides India, has already started to shut down its US operations.
In India, the company’s operations between Mumbai and Bengaluru employ about 3,200 people, of which most are in the southern technological hub. “Around 100 employees have reached out to the union and we are preparing to file the case on Monday. What Technicolor India did is a violation of Section 5D of the Industrial Dispute Act. There is a closure procedure for a company, for which they need to take permission from the labour department,” he added.
Not only were the employees caught unawares by the lay-off, they were also not paid last month’s salary. Pursuant to the layoff, the company’s operations and office were closed the same day.
Technicolor India also sent a relieving letter to its employees on Friday, however, DH couldn’t independently verify the email. Technicolor Group has over 10,000 employees globally and is one of the largest animation and visual effects firms.
“We haven’t received any remittance from the company, hence, we won’t be able to pay salaries. We are in talks to make certain solutions happen, however, any drastic solution (legal) from the employees will deter these efforts,” said Biren Ghose, Managing Director, Asia Pacific in a video on the social media platform YouTube.
Interestingly, he also added that the top leadership across the globe were not privy to the information on the India shut down. Email sent to Biren Ghose went unanswered till press time.