Workers end agitation at Manesar plant
Company agrees to reinstate 64 staffers
The strike at the country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant in Haryana, the third since June this year, finally ended after 15 days with the company conceding to the demand of agitating workers to reinstate 64 employees.
If all works out without anymore glitches, full-scale production at the plant is likely to resume in the next three to four days even as normal work will commence on Saturday, company sources said.
What is significant is that the company has agreed for a third party mediation, in this case the state government, to address pending labour issues. It has been agreed that a joint panel for redressal, which will include workers, company management and state government officials whenever required, will be set up to settle pending matters.
This will also be a platform for workers to raise issues of concern and conflicts with the management.
“The management and workers have signed the agreement in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect, and look forward to work closely together for the benefit of all stakeholders of the company,” Maruti said in a statement.
Company chairman RC Bhargava said it has been decided that there will be a committee involving the workers and the management and possibly at times the state government which will discuss all issues. “There is now a mechanism for grievance redressal in place,” he said.
Sources in the company said the ongoing labour unrest and strike had no correlation with the company’s plans to look for land other than in Haryana. Speculation was rife that Maruti planned to move to Gujarat because of the prolonged labour unrest in Haryana.
The draft agreement facilitated by the state government, is silent on the demand from workers for a formal union at the Manesar plant. The company, however, maintains that the grievance committee will now discuss all such outstanding issue.
Owing to the colossal loss in production that the Maruti has suffered since June, the company intends to work out strategies to scale up production to cover the backlog. The board of directors of the company will meet on October 29 to discuss the issues.
