By Venkatachari Jagannathan Chennai, May 24 : Five workers have died and about 850 have been infected with coronavirus at Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd since last year, said a top leader of Renault Nissan India Thozhilalar Sangam (RNITS). He also said in 2021 alone 420 employees have tested Covid-19 positive. The Renault Nissan Automotive is a joint venture car manufacturing plant of French auto major Renault and Japan's Nissan Motor Company. "All our workers are young and they are dying. There is no social distance maintained at the factory. We had suggested reducing the number of cars produced per hour. This in turn would reduce the number of workers per workstation. But the management didn't agree," K.Balaji Krishnan, President RITS told IANS. There are about 3,580 permanent workers, about 2,000 staff, about 2,000 contract workers and about 1,000 apprentices at the Renault Nissan Automotive factory near here. If one takes into account the family members of the workers and those working in the vendor companies then the total number of persons at risk will run into a couple of Alakhs. According to Krishnan, the Union had requested the factory to be closed till the workers are vaccinated or the demand for beds at the hospitals come down. Though the automobile and the component makers did not function during the March 2020 lockdown, they are allowed to operate with the state government bringing them under the continuous process industries. A worker said the paint shop and the foundry is classified as a continuous process and hence the automobile factories are classified as a continuous process industry. "The paint shop and the foundry can be kept alive without production happening. But the companies are agreeable for that," industry workers told IANS. Krishnan said the Tamil Nadu government's order classifying automobile manufacturers as Public Utility Service ended this February. According to Krishnan, Renault Nissan Automotive has taken out an insurance policy covering Covid-19 for a value of Rs1,00,000 per worker and not their dependents. "There is the usual health insurance cover for Rs 2,00,000 for workers and their dependents but the coverage is insufficient as the hospital expenses incurred for Covid-19 are very high," Krishnan added. The union has filed a case in the Madras High Court against the Tamil Nadu Government and Renault Nissan Automotive challenging the former's order classifying the units that are continuous process industries. (Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in) /IANS