Conciliatory talks between the Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) management and its employee union remained inconclusive on Friday, with the negotiations continuing to focus on the suspension of 30 workers. The discussions will resume next week even as the impasse showed indications of moving into the fourth week at the Japanese carmaker’s two plants in Bidadi near Bangalore.
“There will be another meeting on Tuesday,” said Prasanna Kumar CS, president of the workers union. During the discussions, Toyota is understood to have asked the workers to allow the process of enquiry to continue for the settlement of the suspension issue.
Meanwhile, the union had continued to maintain that suspension remains the key issue as the employees were suspended after the lockout was declared, which, they said, was against the rule. They also said the other issue of signing of good conduct undertaking was secondary.
Typically, an enquiry takes several months and a suspended worker is entitled to half his pay for the first three months and 75% thereafter till the enquiry is completed.?Toyota’s stand has been that discipline on the shop floor shall be maintained, and it is firm on not revoking suspensions. Nearly 300 union workers had reported back to work after signing the good conduct undertaking since the company lifted a lock-out on March 24.
Most in the 4,200-strong union have refused to sign the undertaking. The company declared a lockout on March 16 after productivity levels at its plants had dropped and supervisors were being threatened.