Labour unrest at Hero MotoCorp plant at Haridwar

Similar unrest had hit the Haridwar unit last year, with workers stopping production to demand the reinstatement of a permanent employee

A year after workers went on strike at Hero MotoCorp, labour unrest is still brewing at India’s largest two-wheeler maker’s production facility at Haridwar, Uttarakhand labour minister Harish Chandra Durgapal told the state Assembly on Wednesday.

“There is a protest going on at Hero group’s Haridwar plant. But the state labour department is trying to resolve the issue by holding talks with these workers and the management,” Durgapal told the House. The Hero MotoCorp spokesperson could not be contacted on the issue.

In August 2013, workers at the Haridwar plant had stopped working to demand the reinstatement of a permanent employee who had been suspended by the company. While the management resolved the issue, it suspended 38 workers for taking part in the strike. Later, 11 of the suspended employees were taken back but 27 workers remain suspended, which is the root cause of the current strife.

The Haridwar unit is Hero MotoCorp’s largest facility and it produces best-selling bikes such as the Splendor and Passion.  

The company employs about 5,000 workers at Haridwar, 600 of whom are on the company’s payrolls.

Labour incident at Hero’s Haridwar unit is the latest in the series of labour strikes witnessed by the automobile industry. These include strikes at Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki.

Raising the issue in the House, MLA Hira Singh Bisht of the ruling Congress party said the labour department has “no influence” over the company on the problems faced by the workers.

“I can give you a list of 50 companies in the state where the workers are being thrown out at the whims and fancy of the management,” said claimed Bisht, also the head of the state unit of the Indian National Trade Union Congress.

However, a spokesman of the Hero MotoCorp could not be contacted on the issue.