Workers at TE Connectivity's Bangalore units on strike over wage hike

Swiss-based firm says labour stopped work completely from 7 March without any notice and provocation

TE Connectivity (previously known as Tyco Electronics), a provider of connectivity systems and solutions has said that the workers at its Bangalore manufacturing have resorted to ‘unlawful strike’ demanding wage hikes.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Switzerland-based company said the workers stopped work completely from 7 March without any notice and provocation. “The management and the union have been in talks to arrive at wage increase agreement… While the discussions were still underway, the workers resorted to complete stoppage of work in the form of sit-in strike and tool down,” the statement said. This amounts to a completely illegal and unlawful strike, it added

TE connectivity which owns seven manufacturing plants in India including five in Bangalore and two in Pune employs about 4,500 people in India including the R&D staff. The plants located in Bangalore are estimated to have strength of around 2,000 employees.

“TE Connectivity India is committed to reopening the Bangalore plants on a priority basis provided the employees restore complete normalcy and reach an early amicable settlement through discussions,” the company said.

In 2010-11 (it follows Oct-Sept accounting cycle), TE Connectivity reported revenues of Rs 1400 crore from India. Around 70 per cent of the products manufactured by the company out of India are exported to global markets.