Hero raises wage hike offer a tad but stand-off continues

So far both the Hero management and HMCWU have been broadly sticking to their positions, leading to a stalemate in the wage talks for many months. The company has refused to bow to the tactics such as a production slowdown that the workers tried last week in order to persuade the management to agree to its wage demands. That led to a loss of 1,200 scooters in production terms and R6 crore in revenue terms. The stand-off prompted reports of brewing tension at the factory and deployment of police force for security. In fact, the company also alleged that workers had tampered with equipment to slow production.

“Hero's Gurgaon plant union leadership is under pressure both from its members and unions outside to achieve at least something close to the wage increase that it has already promised to the workers. Anything less would put them in a difficult position. The management is also taking it as a challenge, especially after the workers resorted to arm-twisting tactics,” another source said.

Earlier, on January 16, Hero had offered HMCWU around a R7,500 monthly hike (the average salary today is R46,000 a month), raising it from a previous offer of R6,500. However, the Gurgaon plant workers have demanded double that — at least a R15,000 hike, similar to what Maruti Suzuki and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India recently gave its workers at nearby facilities.

The last offer for an increase in the wage hike offer came in response to a silent protest by workers

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