Maruti cuts output at Gurgaon plant

The labour unrest across Suzuki Motor Corporation’s subsidiaries in India have taken a turn for the worst, with Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) on Monday saying the company had to cut production at its facility in Gurgaon.

The Gurgaon unit produced 1,800 vehicles because of the disruption in supply of components from vendor Suzuki Powertrain India Limited (SPIL) instead of the 2,800 vehicles it rolls out every day.

“The production at the company’s Gurgaon plant has been impacted on Monday due to the strike at Suzuki Powertrain India Limited (SPIL).Supply of diesel engines and also transmissions from Suzuki Powertrain India Limited (SPIL) has stopped,” MSIL said in a statement.

Production is on a standstill at the company’s second unit in Manesar where workers went on a strike asking the management to take back the contract workers who had been laid off during the standoff. The output at MSIL is at almost a third of what was produced by the company from across its four plants in Gurgaon and Manesar.

The company said the law and order situation at Manesar continues to be grave. “The plant is effectively captive in the hands of striking workers who are bent upon violence. They have indulged in random acts of violence like beating up company managers, supervisors and co-workers who are not supporting the strike. They have also damaged equipment and property.”

An estimated 8,000 workers at the three subsidiaries – MSIL’s Mansesar plant, Suzuki Powertrain India Limited and Suzuki Motorcycle India Private Limited – stopped work on Friday evening. Work was affected at three separate companies — Hi-Lex India Global Network, Endurance Transmission India Limited and Satyam Auto Components Limited.

The workers went back on strike within a week of the management and the workers’ union at MSIL reaching an agreement to end the labour unrest which had continued for the whole of last month. On October 1, the protesting workers had agreed to sign the ‘good conduct bond’ as laid down by the management. The company, in turn, had agreed to reinstate the 18 trainees against whom disciplinary action had been taken.

However, MSIL had said the 44 regular workers against whom disciplinary action had been initiated would not be taken back. The workers have now violated the agreement and demanded that the 44 regular workers be also be taken back by MSIL.

Maruti Suzuki dismissed 10 employees, suspended 10 others and terminated the training of five trainees in connection with the strike and violence at the Manesar factory premises. The company has said the strike by the workers, and the violence thereafter, violated the agreement signed by the workers, in the presence of the Haryana government.

There are around 2,000 workers at the Manesar unit, of which 700 are regular employees.

The company claimed 170 regular workers have not joined the sit-in strike. Another 500 workers who were being held under duress by the striking workers in the factory were rescued with the help of the police. MSIL claimed many workers have been beaten up by the striking workers.