Maruti Suzuki has hit back at a striking union in its Manesar plant in North India, branding the walkout as illegal.
The Manesar plant is currently shut with several hundred workers staging a sit-in against what they claim is the refusal of management to recognise a new union.
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The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has threatened further industrial action should worker labour demands not be met, but the automaker takes a radically different view.
“The workers went in for an abrupt stoppage, which made it illegal, that is important,” a Maruti Suzuki spokesman in India told just-auto. “There was no prior notice, no discussion, it was an abrupt disruption of work. The provincial government of Haryana has declared it illegal.
“We have a fully-fledged recognised union for the last 28 years – the Maruti Employees Union – we can’t have a second union – we feel all interests of the workers will be represented collectively by this one union.”
Part of the dispute also centres on 11 workers who were sacked, with the AITUC insisting they be reinstated, although Maruti maintains they were dismissed for agitating industrial action.
“The 11 workers were dismissed for instigating the others into [a] strike,” said the Maruti spokesman.”
However, the issue appears to be wider than simply a case of recognising a separate union. Maruti is expressing concerns the new labour body could be linked to external political influences who it is says are not employees of the manufacturer.
“This alleged or proposed union is clearly affiliating with political elements outside the company,” said the Maruti spokesman. “Company management is within its rights not to permit external influence…and who are not employees of the company.”
Maruti also dampened speculation the strike could extend to a mass walkout by other unions – the AITUC has previously said up to 65 other unions could down tools involving 100,000 workers – but the automaker said there was “no evidence of that.”
Maruti also insisted 600 workers were staging a sit-in in its Manesar factory – not the 2,000 the AITUC claimed – although the manufacturer conceded it had lost US$10m so far in the dispute that has seen the site’s 1,200-vehicle daily output stopped.
“The other workers are obviously not coming to work,” said the Maruti spokesman. “At the moment, it is no work, no pay.”
