MYSURU: About 150 permanent and contractual staff of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting located at Hootagalli industrial area in the city have been rendered jobless after it was locked out on Monday.
The lock up came as a shock for the 84 permanent and 66 contract employees as they had no prior intimation or were issued any notice about it.
A notice pasted at the factory entrance states: “That the factory has become unviable from the financial and business point of view.” Sources said the company suffered a big jolt after the demand for CFL bulbs declined sharply over the last two years due to the increasing preference for LED products. This made the company operations unviable.
According to employees, the company had started decreasing its workforce for more than a year after its business started going down. A year ago, there were over 700 employees which had come down to 150.
The employees have gone on an indefinite protest in front of the unit over sudden lock out of the company.
Though the management maintained that the notices about the closure were sent to the employees, the employees said they did not receive it.