Chennai, March 23 (IANS) Labour trouble was brewing Wednesday at Ford India's plant at Maraimalai Nagar near here with its labour union Ford India Employees Union (FIEU) serving strike notice to the company.

"We had served the strike notice March 7, giving 15 days notice. The strike notice is effective from today (Wednesday)," FIEU general secretary A. Satish Kumar told IANS.

He said the union was discussing the next course of action.

He said a local court has allowed the union to hold demonstrations outside the 50 metre radius of the car plant. The company had, however, prayed an injunction against the union from holding any demonstration within the 500 metre radius of the car plant.

"We have raised an industrial dispute at the labour commissioner office, and it has been pending for a long time," Kumar added.

Speaking about the union's demands, he said: "The primary demand is the recognition of the union by the management."

"The current practice of debiting our leave account on days when the plant is shut for maintenance should be stopped. Similarly, the workers should not be forced to compensate for the 10-minute tea break time taken," he said.

He said Ford India has around 4,600 workers at its plant, out of which around 1,100 are permanent workers.