Strike settled, machines clank once again at Bosch

The Bosch India employees on Tuesday called off the indefinite strike which began on September 16 after entering into a wage settlement agreement for 2013-16 with the management, said the company in a statement.

As per the statement issued by the company, Bosch Limited's Bengaluru plant reached the settlement with its workmen union Mico Employees' Association (MEA) on December 8. With this, the prolonged "illegal" strike called by the Union comes to an end.

According to the statement, the company stated that the Union has agreed to accept last offered wage and benefits proposal that would enable the earning potential — the monthly cost-to-company (CTC) — of an average workman to increase from Rs 64,000 to Rs 86,000. It is subjected to working as per industrial engineering standards for 7.5 hours of work in an eight-hour shift.

With this mutually agreed wage settlement, Bosch Limited's Bengaluru plant will continue to be one of the best paymasters in the manufacturing and other comparable industries, the company said in a statement.

“I am pleased to see all our workmen resume production. Despite the adverse effect of the strike, the company has made a generous offer to its workmen union and expects them to adhere to the agreed measures on productivity standards,” Steffen Berns, Managing Director of Bosch Limited, said.

“The company will continue its efforts towards establishing a trustful collaboration with its workmen and jointly finding a way to help the company in maintaining its competitiveness. This settlement is a step towards securing the future of our Bengaluru plant. We would like to reaffirm our commitment to India and its strong growth potential,” said Berns.

As part of the settlement, the company also offered to confirm 100 of the 370 temporary workmen at a new intermediate wage level. This decision is taken despite the fact that in future it is likely to have excess manpower due to changes in the product mix.

Praise government 

The company expressed its gratitude to the Karnataka government and the Labour department for their support throughout the settlement process.

The workers were on an indefinite strike from September 16 seeking resolution of their charter of demands, including wage issues, medical benefits, and on the issue of demand for productivity by the management.

The union had claimed that 2,575 permanent workers and 370 temporary workers were part of the strike, which the company had called illegal. Union leaders were unreachable for their comments.