Labour unrest at Hero's Haridwar plant ends

Production at two-wheeler maker's plant was affected with workers going on a tool-down agitation since Thursday night against the suspension of two colleagues

The day-long labour strife at Hero MotoCorp’s Haridwar facility that partially impacted production work was resolved on Saturday.

Workers at the unit had disrupted production work on Friday over the company’s management issuing a disciplinary showcause notice to a permanent employee.

“The issue with regard to a handful of workers sitting in protest against the issuance of a showcause notice to a worker has been amicably resolved. All the protesting workers have gone back, and our despatches from the plant are going on. The company stands firm in its adherence to the well-established code of conduct and guidelines applicable to all employees for smooth operations of the plant”, said a Hero MotoCorp spokesperson.

A government official involved in the negotiations between the workers and the management said a meeting to address all pending issues was scheduled for Tuesday. “It has been agreed that the worker against whom the notice was issued will be chargesheeted. A final decision on suspension will be taken after he responds to the chargesheet,” he said.

Recent strikes at auto firms

Hero Motocorp
30 Aug, 2013: A section of workers at the Haridwar unit abstains from work to protest against the issue of disciplinary showcause notice to a worker
Dec  2012: Workers at Gurgaon unit agitate over wage hike. Company gives increment of around 25% in April with retrospective effect from August 2012, spread over three years
Bajaj Auto
5 June-13 Aug, 2013: Workers at Chakan plant agitate over wage revision, demand 500 equity shares of the company at Rs 1 each
M&M
5-8 March, 2013: Strike at Nashik plant over workers’ suspension and wage settlement

A Hero MotoCorp workers’ union representative in Delhi had told Business Standard: “Production work has been halted at the Haridwar facility since 10 pm on Thursday. All workers at the unit are on a strike demanding the reinstatement of a permanent worker suspended by the management on flimsy grounds.” The company had, however, refuted the claims and said only a handful of workers had joined the agitation on Friday and the impact on production was “very insignificant.”

Hero MotoCorp also clarified that only a show-cause notice had been issued to the worker and that he had not been suspended.

The notice had been served on the worker on Friday for misrepresenting facts while applying for employment at the plant. The company said this was in gross violation of the model standing orders & policies. Thereafter, a handful of workers at the plant abstained from work (on Friday) in protest against the issuance of this disciplinary showcause notice to the worker.

The company declined to specify the number of units lost due to the unrest at the facility on Friday.  But industry sources informed the production loss was of less than 800 units. Hero MotoCorp on an average produces 8,000 two-wheelers a day at its Haridwar facility, with peak production touching 9,000 units. The plant, with 4,000 workers, is Hero MotoCorp’s largest facility and produces best-sellers like the Splendor and Passion in two to three shifts, depending on demand.

The Gurgaon and Dharuhera units manufacture 5,500 to 6,000 units a day each.

The temporary unrest at the facility is the latest in a series of labour strikes at automobile companies in recent months.

Pune-based Bajaj Auto earlier this month resolved a 50-day stand-off with its Chakan facility workers, who were demanding 500 equity shares of the company at Rs 1 each as part of a wage compensation package.

Before that, Hero had settled a wage dispute with the union at its Gurgaon plant in April this year by doling out wage increments of an average 25 per cent, or Rs 9,000 a month, spread over a three-year period.