Honda workers seek court help for place to protest at Alwar unit

Striking workers of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) at Tapukara in Rajasthan’s Alwar district filed an appeal on Friday at the high court in Jaipur, seeking a place to assemble and ‘peacefully’ protest against the company.

A plan by the workers to gather and protest in front of the factory on Friday, producing two-wheelers, was stopped by police. “At least 2,000 workers from the plant and other supporting unions had decided to gather at a point three kilometers away from the plant and then proceed there for a  protest. However, buses were stopped at various entry points to Tapukara and police dispersed the workers,” said a striking worker. "A few agitating workers, with support of external people from other companies of neighboring states, tried to take out a rally, but they could not muster much support and no such rally happened. There is no additional impact on plant production today," the company said.

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Many workers at the Tapukara unit went on strike on February 16, which the company has termed ‘illegal’. Workers, the company claimed, caused damage to various units of the plant, seeking reinstatement of four workers whose services were terminated for ‘indiscipline’.

A striking worker alleged the whole incident was plotted to derail the formation of a workers’ union at the plant that became operational in 2011.  The company has not been able to operate at normal capacity for the past 10 days.

The striking worker claimed their intention was to form a union in July last year and a formal representation to the state labour department in August did not go well with the company. “There was an effort to stall the process by influencing workers who had earlier favoured formation of union,” he said. HMSI said it had no role to play in union formation.

Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union general secretary Kuldeep Janghu said his union and several others, including that at Hero MotoCorp, were supporting the union formation at Tapukara.