Indian sources indicate work could restart at the arson-hit Maruti-Suzuki Manesar plant by next Wednesday (22 August) to coincide with a visit from the chairman of the Japanese automaker to Delhi.
Neither Maruti nor Suzuki was immediately available to comment on any potential resumption of work at the site or to confirm a visit from Japan, but a meeting is believed to have taken place yesterday to discuss resumption of work at the factory shuttered since 21 July.
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“There is every likelihood they will start – there is no other way – there is no excuse now for them not to start production,” All India Trades Union Congress (AITUC) national secretary Darshan Sachdev told just-auto. “Their chairman from Suzuki is coming to Delhi on 22 August it is reported.
“We are not in touch with them [Maruti]. “We don’t like them and they don’t like us – they think trade unions are a political party. Had they allowed their local union to stay in touch with the mainstream trade union, we would have advised them. No sane trade union would have advised them to to resort to violence.”
Those disturbances saw a mob rampage through the Manesar factory leading to the death of the Manesar plant human resources manager and putting a further 100 staff in hospital.
Maruti has previously told just-auto it would not be taking on any contract workers until next year, but the AITUC says there may be a slight softening of this stance to allow jobs such as loading and unloading to be undertaken by temporary staff.
Maruti-Suzuki has imposed a lock-out at the plant leading to the 4,000 staff staying at home with no pay, while the State of Haryana has offered to provide a battalion of police, many of them armed at the site for a year to convince the automaker of the factory’s security.
