Protesting workers of Yamaha, MSI arrested while holding hunger strike

Royal Enfield has said its Oragadam factory has been operational since Saturday

Around 700 workers from India Yamaha Motor Pvt Ltd (IYMPL) and Myoung Shin Automotive India Pvt Ltd (MSI), a Tier-I supplier of Hyundai, in the automobile manufacturing hub of Sriperumbudur were arrested on Tuesday morning for conducting a hunger strike at Kancheepuram, according to the workers' union. 

Meanwhile, Royal Enfield, which is also facing a workers' protest, has said that the company is expecting production at its Oragadam plant to come back in a phased manner. 

S Kannan, district president, Kanchipuram, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), has said that around 700 workers from both the factories took part in a hunger strike on Tuesday morning on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi.

The police refused to give the workers permission to gather and conduct a hunger strike at the public place and arrested them. Subsequently, they were moved to a marriage hall.

"We have been denied the freedom to hold a hunger strike almost 40 kilometres away from the factory on the day of Gandhi Jayanthi. We sat on strike from morning and shouted slogans, which the police allowed for almost an hour, following which we were arrested," he said.

The CITU-led union in MSI has been holding a strike for more than 20 days now seeking wage settlement and other demands, while in IYMPL, the protest is being held for the right to form a union, said the union leaders. 

IYMPL was not immediately available for comment. Talks between the union, the labour department and the company management are expected to restart from Wednesday morning after the first set of talks last week failed to come to a conclusion. 

Meanwhile, two-wheeler maker Royal Enfield has said that its Oragadam factory, where workers had protested, has been operational since Saturday, September 29, 2018, after a part of the workforce had not reported for duty since September 24. The company said it lost around 10,000 units due to the workers' protest. 

"We expect to reach regular levels of production in a phased manner. Our manufacturing facility at Vallam Vadagal continues to operate and deliver to its full capacity," the company said in a statement to NSE.

The company claimed that it has not terminated anyone in the wake of recent developments at the plant. Salary revisions are done annually. The last annual salary revision was done in April 2018, and the next revision is due in April 2019. 

"We are in dialogue with our plant-based forums to amicably resolve all concerns," said the company.