MRF employees call off sit-in strike

About 5,000 employees of tyre major MRF have called off their sit-in strike and will resume work from tomorrow, taking into account forthcoming union elections, a top union official said.

"We have asked the employees to resume work from tomorrow morning for the first shift as of now. We have union elections in Tiruvottiyur on October 30. Therefore, we asked employees to withdrew the strike," MRF Worker's Union President V Prakash told reporters.

He said the union will hold a meeting with the employees of MRF units at Tiruvottiyur, Puducherry and Arakkonam, who had gone on strike to press their various demands.

"Hereafter, any struggle by the employees will be duly planned," he said.

Asked about the management's move to set up CCTV cameras at the Tiruvottiyur plant -- one of the major reasons that triggered the strike at all the units -- he demanded that the management set up surveillance cameras only at the main gate and in the scrap yard, instead of in the canteen and work spaces, "which actually invades the privacy of employees".

He said CCTV cameras were also installed at the Arakkonam and Puducherry facilities, but not to the same extent as in the Tiruvottiyur plant.

The Arakkonam unit produces 45,000 truck and radial tyres and 30,000 tubes per day, while the Puducherry unit produces 13,000 to 15,000 radial tyres per day. The Tiruvottiyur plant produces 4,000 nylon tyres per day. Output from the three factories accounts for business worth about Rs 4,500 crore for the tyre manufacturer every year.