With the strike at the Chakan plant entering the 42nd day, Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj on Monday issued a firm warning to the workers to either return to work within a week or face job losses as the company would shift 50% of the plant?s capacity between its Waluj and Pantnagar plants.
Bajaj said that if by next Monday the issue is not resolved, the matter of shifting the production base to Waluj and Pantnagar would be put on the agenda of the company?s board meeting on September 24.
?It does not take too long to shift. Most parts are made by suppliers. It will cost a few crores but is not a big deal for Bajaj Auto. Effort, time and money is not an issue,? Bajaj said. He?s given the management team a week?s time to resolve the issue and appealed to the workers to return to work by next Monday.
Bajaj also threw another option at the workers ? sit at home and take their salary as had happed at the Akurdi plant in 2007-08. ?The issue of free shares is dead and buried. That was the basis on which they had stopped work. It has not found any traction or support and instead only caused amazement and made them an object of ridicule,? the Bajaj MD said.
He likened his stand with Ratan Tata who, while he was heading Tata Motors refused to budge and negotiate with the then Tata Motors Pune union leader, Rajan Nair, when the company faced a similar strike at its Pune plant. ?Look where Tata Motors is today and one does not know much about Rajan Nair,? Bajaj pointed out.
Though the management and the union have come to a broad understanding on various issues the major bone of contention is regarding taking back the 22 suspended workers. While the company is willing to consider revoking supension of seven who were involved in minor cases of indiscipline, for the remaining 15 it wanted an inquiry process.
Reacting to the MD?s offer, Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanaghatana president Dilip Pawar said that Rajiv Bajaj had issued similar threats when wage negotiations were happening in Aurangabad and this happens all the time. ?Bajaj will also lose workers if he does not hear them out. The loss is his as well. This is dictatorship. Pressure tactics are being used against the workers,? he said.
Instead of threatening, he should talk to the workers and resolve the issue in an amicable way, the union president said.
Pawar said the MD was listening to only one side of the story and was not ready to give the other side a chance to present their point of view.
?I am sure the management is lying to him. Sadly, the MD is also avoiding direct meeting and, therefore, there is a communication gap. When a problem occurred in 2007-08, it was Rajiv Bajaj who had sorted out the issue. What is stopping him now? If this continues the problem will persist,? Pawar said.
If the MD wants to shift work to another location, he will do it regardless of workers, Pawar said. ?We will place this issue before the committee and then see what decision can be taken,? he added.