The striking workers at Maruti Suzuki?s Manesar facility took control of the factory in what is increasingly becoming the worst spate of labour trouble for the company in the last 10 years. In several random instances of violence the company?s supervisors and employees were hit by the striking workers bringing production to a complete halt.
What has further complicated the problem for Maruti is that production of its cars at Gurgaon have also been severely crippled because of the simultaneous labour troubles at its sole diesel engine maker Suzuki Powertrain India (SPIL). This is the second time in less than a month that over 1,500 workers of SPIL have also suspended production in solidarity with the workers of Maruti Suzuki at Manesar.
While production at Manesar continued to be halted, the Gurgaon facility is operating at about 60% of its capacity. On Monday the overall production of its Gurgaon facility stood at 1,800 units against the everyday production target of 2,800 units.?The law and order situation at Maruti Suzuki?s Manesar plant continues to be grave. The plant is effectively captive in the hands of striking workers who are bent upon violence,? the company said on Monday.
The company further said that the workers have been engaging in violent acts which had made any production nearly impossible. ?They have indulged in random acts of violence like beating up company managers, supervisors and those co workers who are not supporting the strike. They have also damaged equipment and property. In the situation, production remains at a standstill in the plant,? the company said.
Leader of the workers? yet-to-be-recognised Maruti Suzuki Employees Union Shiv Kumar said that the company had breached the understanding reached last week. ?As per the arrangement the company was supposed to reinstate the 18 contractual workers who had been suspended . However, they are refusing to do that.?
The company, however said that it was the workers who had gone against the understanding. ?The company had agreed to reinstate 18 trainees, 44 regular employees were to be suspended. The stay-in strike, within a week of the agreement, and the striking workers? demand that the 44 suspended workers be taken back is a clear violation of the agreement facilitated by the Haryana government,? Maruti said.
What has made the overall environment very tense is that the law and order situation has gone out of hands not just in Maruti?s Manesar factory but also in SPIL. This prompted the president of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) S Sandilya to call upon the government of Haryana to douse the fire. ?Since it has now become a law and order problem the government must intervene,? he said.
The stay-in strike broke out on Friday when the permanent workers protested against the company?s decision to disallow the contractual workers from entering the factory premises. However, the company has maintained that once the second plant at Manesar reaches an optimal production level of 2.5 lakh units per annum a chunk of these workers would be absorbed. Maruti further said that the police had to rescue around 500 workers who were being held under duress by the striking workers.
Reacting to the development, shares of the company dropped by over 4.32% on the Bombay Stock Exchange and more than 4.18% on the National Stock Exchange to early lows of R1,065 and R1,066.60, respectively. The stock, however, later recovered some of the lost ground and was trading at R1,082.30 on the BSE, down 2.77%, and at R1,083.75 on the NSE, down 2.65%, at 1045 hours.