Thursday, June 16, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
Maruti strike to intensify 2 hours halt at Manesar belt
As the strike at the Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant entered its 11th day, the workers working in 65 different factories in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt halted the production for 2 hours in a tool-down strike this morning to show their support for the strike at Maruti’s Manesar plant.
With a little change in the situation, the strike is going on with the production at a complete halt. Even the shares of Maruti Suzuki are affected and they saw a depression of 0.87% at Rs 1,216.95 in the Bombay Stock Exchange.
All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) which is leading the strike from outside commented on this step of workers of 65 factories and said that if a solution in not given in two days, then the workers will go on a full day strike.
While a three party talk between the government, MSI management and striking workers ended without any solution, reason being the MSI management, who have refused to acknowledge any other worker union at the plant, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said that if no result comes out soon, these strikes will be intensified.
Shiv Kumar, General Secretary of Maruti Suzuki Employees Union said that the company has drawn back its recently made statement, where they had agreed to form a separate union and now it is refusing to accept any local union.
With an ongoing strike of 11 days by the 2,000 workers on Manesar plant, MSI has suffered hugely and a loss of Rs 450 crore has been estimated for about 9,000 units.
Some of the popular hatchback models in the Indian auto market are Ford Figo, Maruti Swift, 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.