Bosch workers go on indefinite strike

Workers at the Adugodi plant run by German auto component major Bosch Ltd have declared an indefinite strike from Tuesday at a time when the state is wooing industries globally.

When contacted by Deccan Herald, Mico Employees Association President S Prasanna Kumar said the employees had resorted to strike owing to the adamant stand of the management on issues raised by the workers.

“We have presented a charter of demands for the past 22 months and haven’t received any commitment from the management side. So we decided to go on for strike from 6 am on Tuesday to get our issues resolved,” Kumar said.

“We wanted the company to settle the issue on standard of time and motion of machine and man as the basis on which incentives for employees are fixed, roll back the cut in medical benefits, standardise promotions and settle issues of non-permanent staff,”he said.

The company has 2,575 permanent workers, 700 temporary workers and 1,000 contract workers in Bangalore at its two automotive plants.

The company said that “Workmen Union of Bosch Ltd, Bangalore plant declared an illegal strike starting from the first shift of at the manufacturing unit at Adugodi”.
State Labour Commissioner Viswanath said the issue will be sorted out soon.

Bilateral discussions
“We have called for bilateral discussions with the parties concerned on September 18 and then there will be a conciliation meeting on September 20,” he said.
Last year in March, workers had gone on a tool down strike, and in November the company had shut operations of the Bangalore due to another tool down strike.
In August this year, workers at the company’s Jaipur plant had also gone on a tool down strike but was resolved within two days.