The Haryana government has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the violence at Maruti Suzuki?s Manesar plant stating all the guilty would be brought to book. However, the Maruti management is clearly sore with the state government and blames it for the current mess because it was at the behest of chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda that the company reinstated 11 workers sacked last year in June following a 13-day strike. The June strike by the workers when they insisted on forming a separate union for the Manesar plant was the beginning of the company’s troubles last year, which has now led to a lockout.
Moreover, it was because of the intervention of the chief minister that the company went easy on its stance that it would deduct eight days of salary for every day of strike. Company officials told FE that had such measures not been forced on it, the July 18 incident may not have occurred.
?The Haryana government needs to take concrete action and fast this time, to prove it is serious about providing a conducive business environment in the state,? an official said.
?If the investments by Maruti, which is the largest in the state can be treated in this way, surely it does not signal the right thing,? the official said.
The company’s stance that it expects concrete steps from the Haryana government this time round was apparent at a meeting between Maruti officials and the state chief minister at the capital’s Haryana Bhavan on Monday evening. Emerging from the meeting, Maruti chairman RC Bhargava said the company has requested from the government that the present case be dealt with according to the provisions of criminal law and not industrial unrest. He also said they have demanded fast-tracking the case and appointing eminent lawyer KTS Tulsi as special public prosecutor.
Last year, the Manesar plant was rocked by strike thrice. The 13-day strike in June was followed by a 33-day sit-in protest by workers in August when the company had asked them to sign a good conduct bond. This was followed by another 14-day strike in October. Every time, the suspended or sacked workers were taken back by the company due to some form of intervention by the state government’s labour department. After the end of the October strike, the company was forced to take back around 1,200 contract workers. Around 64 permanent workers were taken back.
In fact, after the October strike, the company had also reinstated transport services for the workers, which was stopped after hostilities had broken out earlier that month. It was after the end of this strike that two prominent union leaders, Sonu Gujar and Shiv Kumar who were at the forefront quit the company after pocketing hefty severance packages.