After several rounds of negotiations with its employees, Burroughs Wellcome has announced Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to its employees. If successful, the scheme could pave the way for a long-pending legal merger of Burroughs with GSK.

According to an official spokesperson of GSK, the board has announced three VRS schemes depending on the number of years of service left for its 510 employees. GSK has estimated a cost of more than Rs. 60 crore for the execution scheme. Those who apply on or before July 1 will receive an added incentive of about Rs 1 lakh.

The Burroughs plant also has 50 senior management employees. “Nothing has been decided so far about the management staff,” said the spokesperson.

The root cause for the merger of Burroughs and GSK not taking place in the country was the wage disparity between the employees of the companies. The Burroughs employees enjoyed higher wages compared to GSK employees. “Despite repeated attempts, Burroughs employees were not ready for lowering their salaries and the matter became judicial last year,” he said.

Three alternatives were presented before the GSK employees. The first being the utilization of GSK plant for contract manufacturing, the second one being selling off the plant with or without the employees, and the final one being the VRS offer.

“Since February, we have held several negotiations with the employees on this regard and have arrived at the current scheme. The current settlement is very much over mutual agreement,” he said.

The Mulund facility makes brands like Septran and Neosporin. The plant continues to make other products such as Vitamin C brand Celin, and calcium supplement Ostocalcium. The Mulund facility is spread over 10 acres of land in an area that has recently seen many factories replaced by residential or retail complexes. It has two manufacturing plants, one for chemicals which was shut some years ago, and one for pharmaceuticals which is operational.