Toyota stalemate ends, workers resume duty

Ending over a month-long stalemate, employees of the Toyota Kirloskar Motor resumed work at the company’s two plants in Bidadi on Tuesday.

The move comes after the government asked both the management and the workers’ union to restore normalcy in operations.

“We have resumed work as per the orders of the Karnataka government. About 2,000 employees have reported to first shift at 5:45 am and another group has reported to second shift at 2:45 pm,” Toyota Kirloskar Motor Employees’ Union General Secretary R Satish said. However, he said they would continue to contest with management on issues including wages and suspension of 30 employees.

The 4,200-member strong union decided to resume work after the general body meeting on Monday. The company, in response to a query, said “all workmen have come to work as planned.”

Toyota’s operations had been affected ever since the union demanded a wage hike of Rs 4,000 as against Rs 3,050 proposed by the management.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor had on March 16 declared a lockout. Though the lockout was lifted on March 24, employees did not resume work as they objected to signing a good conduct undertaking as demanded by the company and pressed for withdrawal of suspension orders.