Maruti asks 350 trainees to rejoin after talks fail

A day after talks brokered by the Haryana government to end standoff with workers at Manesar plant failed, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today said it had asked 350 trainees to resume duties within the next three days.

"The company has also communicated with all the 350 technician trainees, asking them to resume duties at Manesar plant in the next three days," MSI said in a statement.

In the meantime, the company said it rolled out 600 Swift cars from Manesar and Gurgaon plants today.

Blaming repeated shifting in positions by workers' representatives for the breakdown of talks brokered by the Haryana government, the company said it was now adopting other communication "channel" in order to resolve the impasse at its Manesar plant.

"With the talks having failed, the company management is now communicating with workers through various channels. It will encourage workers to sign the Good Conduct Bond, and resume duties without any fear or apprehension and work towards restoring normalcy," it said.

However, it did not specify the nature of channel through which it would be communicating with the workers.

"The management continues to believe that most of the workers are sincere and hard working. They are misled by a few people," it added.

Yesterday, talks between the management and workers of the Manesar plant broke down and subsequently three leaders of the rebel union -- Maruti Suzuki Employees Union were arrested by the police.

The talks began late last week in the presence of the Labour and Employment Minister of Haryana government, the Labour department and the district administration of Gurgaon.

MSI blamed the workers for the failure of the talks.

"The management had started the talks with the aim of arriving at a solution, and made efforts to achieve positive progress. However, talks failed on Sunday night as striking workers repeatedly changed their position on key issues, making it impossible to reach a settlement," it said.

They also made unreasonable demands such as asking the management to take back people who had indulged in violent acts and attacked company officials, it added.

The MSI management and workers have been locked in a standoff since August 29, when the management prevented workers from entering the factory premises unless they signed a 'good conduct' bond, after alleged sabotage and deliberate compromise on the quality of cars being produced.

The bond requires the workers to declare they would "not resort to go slow, intermittent stoppage of work, stay-in-strike, work-to-rule, sabotage or otherwise indulge in any activity, which would hamper normal production in the factory".