The strike at Maruti’s Manesar plant which started on Saturday, June 4th, 2011, and continued even on Monday saw a dramatic turn of events on Monday as the management toughened its stand against the protesting workers by sacking 11 protestors on disciplinary grounds. This step was taken even as the management is in talks with its employees to call off the strike. The estimated production loss so far from the strike which started on Saturday is around Rs. 100 crore. The employees are demanding for the recognition of a new union. Their other demands include-retention of the old contract employees for the two new company units and no action to be taken against the 11 office bearers of the new union.
The company plant in Manesar has 2,000 odd employees and manufactures Swift, Dzire, Ritz and SX4. The workers have been on strike since Saturday evening, resulting in the production loss of around 2,000 cars in the past three days. Chairman R C Bhargava quoted, “The strike is illegal. The workers had not given any notice to the management. Also, those who have applied for registration of a new union, which is separate from that of the Gurgaon plant, did not receive permission or were registered.” Mr. Bhargava added to end the strike the company was willing to offer sops to its agitating workers and further commented the works could “show their strength” and “air their grievances” during the Maruti union elections which would be held next month.
To end the strike, the management on its part is trying to convince the workers, “One strong union is much better than multiple unions, which only helps the management,” stated a key executive who is involved in the negotiations with the workers. The company hopes to reach an agreement soon to avoid a repeat of 2000-2001 scenario, where the workers went on strike for three months from November 2000-January 2001, bringing the production to a standstill.
