Bosch serves memo to striking employees

Workers told to resume work immediately to restart wage negotiations

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Bosch on Thursday issued a memo to striking workers to resume duties immediately, six days after the Karnataka government declared their strike illegal. There would be no negotiations on a wage rise till regular work resumed, the company said.

Depleting inventories and the risk of defaulting on supplies had prompted Bosch to take this measure, sources said. Bosch normally maintains five weeks of inventories and with workers on strike for over a month, these are almost exhausted.

“We have issued a memo to all striking employees and told them to resume work on Thursday. The state government has already prohibited the strike. The management can reopen wage negotiations only if they return to work and restore normalcy in production,” a Bosch spokesperson told Business Standard.

Around 2,600 workers affiliated to the MICO Employees Association, the official trade union, went on strike from September 26. They are demanding more pay and better benefits like medical facilities and hospitalisation expenses. The Karnataka government on October 10 declared the strike illegal.

Bosch has deployed white-collar staff to maintain urgent supply commitments to key customers. Production of elements used in common rail diesel injection systems of cars and A-Pumps of commercial vehicles and tractors has been affected.

“Our current wage offer to the union is one of the best among comparable industries. The company will continue to adopt a fair but firm approach and urges its workmen’s union to call off the indefinite illegal strike and report to work and restore normalcy,” the Bosch statement added.

Wages are renegotiated once in four years at Bosch and the management is yet to announce salaries for the four years starting January 2013.

The current monthly cost to company of a workman in Bosch’s Bangalore plant is Rs 65,000 and the company is willing to raise it by Rs 17,000. The union was demanding a Rs 20,000 monthly increment as well as walk-in/walk-out medical benefits, Bosch sources said. Office-bearers of the union were unavailable for comments.