KOCHI: A tragic incident at a Kochi car dealership has reignited a long-simmering debate: Should untrained trade union workers be allowed to unload high-end vehicles?
On the night of June 22, a brand-new Range Rover worth around Rs 4.5 crore went out of control while being unloaded from a trailer at a dealer yard in Chalikkavattom. The car crushed Roshan Antony Xavier, 36, a dealership staffer, to death. He was standing nearby when the vehicle, reportedly being handled by a trade union worker, veered off course. One of the union workers sustained minor injuries. The Palarivattom police have booked a case against the worker involved.
“Our demand is that only trained personnel should unload the vehicles, and that the government should give it legal backing. In our case, after a couple of minor mishaps, we insisted on doing the task with our expert staff. But even then, the trade unions charge ‘nokkukooli’,” Sabu Johny, an office- bearer, Kerala Automobile Dealers Association, told TNIE.
It’s learnt that headload workers unions charge around Rs 4,000 for luxury cars and half the amount for regular ones, claiming that they have the unloading rights of such cars being brought to the dealer yards or showrooms from the manufacturing plants by trucks.
“There is only one solution. Only those who got the training and expertise, whether the personnel is of the transporter, dealer or the union, should be unloading the vehicles. That’s the demand of the association. The mishaps happen when people who don’t have much experience with the vehicle systems, take up the job. Now there shouldn’t be another death due to such mishaps in Kerala,” said R Renjith, KADA administrator. “We’ve submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister’s Office.
The Under Secretary at the CMO replied that the same is being forwarded to the Ernakulam Collector to conduct a detailed enquiry into the incident. A team of police and other officials inspected the vehicle and arrived at the conclusion that there was nothing faulty with the vehicle and that a manual error while unloading led to the mishap,” he added.
Usually when new consignments are assigned to OAE (Open Auto Express, a service for transporting new and used vehicles, it’s the responsibility of the transporters to unload the vehicle.
The job needs expertise as the high-end vehicles need to be unloaded from the truck in minimal space and from a height. The truck drivers, who load the high-end cars onto the enclosed carriers for delivery know how to safely unload them.
“They are trained in that. Even otherwise, there are trained staff in the dealerships. The law states that it’s the responsibility of the transporter to ship the new cars to the dealer showrooms safely. However, certain people claiming to be members of the trade union or those who take the money in the name of the trade union are the troublemakers...,” Renjith pointed out. There is already a strict practice in existence at places like the Cochin port during the shipment of new cars from plants to dealerships.
“This job can be done only by skilled persons as various types of cars are built differently. Here there is a strict rule that the cargo should be handled only by licensed stevedores and shore handlers. Such personnel are decided by the importer and will be experts in handling the cargo in question,” Suresh Babu, senior assistant traffic manager, Cochin Port Trust, said.