Maruti Suzuki on Thursday suspended production at its Manesar plant near New Delhi after rioting workers attacked managers late on Wednesday, leaving one senior executive dead and scores injured.
Media reports said Gurgaon police had arrested around 100 people and that around 1,000 police had been deployed to the plant. Indian TV showed burning buildings and vandalised cars. A case has been prepared against about 60 workers for attempt to murder and damage to property.
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“[We have lost] Awanish Kumar Dev, general manager (HR) at Manesar Plant, who was burnt to death by the mob,” Maruti said in a blunt statement on Thursday.
Media reports said Dev had been hiding in an office building and was caught in the fire.
Maruti added: “Awanish was an outstanding professional and team member, compassionate, soft spoken and deeply committed to cordial industrial relations. In the past year, he had been instrumental in the company taking far-reaching steps to enhance the well being and working conditions of workers at the Manesar Plant.
In what it called “mob violence and arson”, several executives, managers and supervisors “were brutally attacked and injured, and nearly 100 of them had to be hospitalised”, Maruti added.
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By GlobalDataIt said it was still assessing arson damage to property and facilities.
“What is clear is that the office facilities have been burnt beyond repair, as have the main gate, security office and the fire safety section.
“Both our plants in the Manesar campus were, of course, closed on Thursday. We will shortly announce our decision on the next steps with regard to resuming operations in these facilities.”
Maruti said top management has visited injured colleagues in hospitals in Gurgaon.
“A few of our colleagues remain serious. While the rest are recovering from the physical injuries, it will take them a while to come out of the trauma. The injured include two Japanese expatriates, including the plant manager.”
Maruti claimed the workers’ union was demanding reinstatement of a worker who had been suspended for beating up a supervisor.
“While negotiations were on with the senior management, the first act of violence by the mob was to forcibly shut the main gate and prevent managers from leaving the premises after working hours.
“Thereafter, armed with iron rods and door beams of cars, the mob spread out in groups in the factory area and targeted supervisors, managers and executives. In simultaneous attacks in different parts of the factory, the mob beat the managers on their head, legs and back, rendering many of their victims bleeding and unconscious. They also ransacked offices, broke glass panes and wantonly damaged property. Finally, they set the offices on fire.”
Manesar has a troubled history and there was a four-month strike there last year. But Maruti had recently made changes it hoped would improve industrial relations.
Today it said bluntly: “By any account, this is not an ‘industrial relations’ problem in the nature of management-worker differences over issues of wages or working conditions. Rather, it is an orchestrated act of mob violence at a time when operations had been normal over the past many months.
“Such acts of violence – pre planned, unprovoked and gruesome – have implications beyond one company or region. They are negative trigger for existing companies and regions across the country, as also for prospective investors and job seekers.
“We are extending full cooperation to the police and government authorities in identifying the guilty and taking suitable action.”
The Hindustan Times said a burned body was recovered from the Manesar plant after the violence erupted late on Wednesday.
“Production has been completely stopped,” an anonymous executive told the paper, adding it was not known when the plant, which makes 550,000 vehicles a year, would reopen.
Maruti shares fell over 8% during Thursday afternoon on investor fears that the shutdown would be protracted.
The Maruti executive said over 90 supervisors had been injured and 50 were in hospital with broken bones, head wounds and other injuries while some were in intensive care.
“Two Japanese executives were injured and were in a private hospital,” one manager said.
“All senior employees had to run to escape the angry mob – some jumped over factory walls… they just did not stop,” Virendra Prasad, a supervisor who suffered head injuries, told reporters.
The union in a statement gave a different account of events from Maruti, saying the supervisor had “abused” a worker who complained and was suspended.
“As part of the vindictive attitude and in a pre-planned manner, a supervisor in the shop floor abused and made casteist comments against a dalit worker of the permanent category, which was legitimately protested by the worker. Instead of taking action against the said supervisor, the management immediately suspended the worker concerned without any investigation as was demanded by the workers. When the workers along with union representatives went to meet the HR to demand against the supervisor and revoke the unjust suspension of the worker, the HR officials flatly refused to hear our arguments, and it was in no mood to resolve the issue amicably,” firstpost.com quoted the union as saying in a statement.
When efforts to resolve the row were underway, Maruti called in “hundreds of bouncers on its payroll to attack the workers… to corner us into submission,” alleged RamMeher, head of the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union, to the Hindustan Times.
Police said a supervisor had slapped a worker, one worker had been suspended and there had been peace talks between the management and the labour. The labour had sought that the suspension of the worker should be revoked. The workers then attacked the management, firstpost.com reported.
The Manesar plant, 50km (30 miles) from New Delhi, employs 2,000 people and produces Maruti’s top-selling Swift and A-Star hatchbacks and SX4 sedans. The A-Star is exported as the Alto along with its Nissan Pixo OEM derivative.
An extended closure would be a major blow for Maruti, which saw its profits slide 29% in 2011 on the back of strikes and a slowdown in Asia’s third-largest auto market, the Hindustan Times noted.
Maruti has since announced it intends to build a new factory in the western state of Gujarat, which is emerging as a new car-producing hub after investments by Ford and Indian automaker Tata Motors.
