Thursday, June 23, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
13-day strike ends at Maruti’s Manesar plant
The 13-day-old strike at the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki finally settled late night on Thursday. The plant is expecting to start manufacturing Saturday onwards. As per the accord, Maruti settled to restore all 11 employees who were sacked earlier.
The Maruti staff that went on strike is going to lose only a few days salary and not for the entire striking period. Maruti is yet to take a decision whether to recognize the new workers union or not. Maruti suffered an estimated loss of 600 Crores during the strike period with less production of 13,200 cars.
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) General Secretary Gurudas Dasgupta was earlier quoted as saying, "There will be no reference to the management's decision of not allowing trade union activities at the plant, “Other worker unions in the industrial belt will carry on their dissent,” said District President Suresh Gaur of AICTU Gurgaon. The workers will continue their protest by working with empty stomach on Friday and a two-hour tool down strike on 20th June. The strike at India’s largest carmakers started when some 2000 odd workers demanded recognition for a new on union- Maruti Suzuki Employees Union on 4 June. The Haryana state administration also intervened in settling the dispute. The waiting period for Maruti's top selling models – Maruti Swift, Maruti Sx4, Maruti Swift Dzire and Maruti A-Star dipped broadly as a result of the production halt.
Some of the popular hatchback models in the Indian auto market are Ford Figo, Hyundai i10, Chevrolet Beat and Volkswagen Polo. Apart from these popular models, cars going to hit the Indian roads this year are Toyota Etios Liva, Maruti Cervo and New Ford Fiesta.
