Honda Motorcycle talking to trade union to break Manesar plant logjam

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) on Thursday said discussions were going on with trade union members to find a solution for its Manesar plant, which has been shut indefinitely. The Japanese two-wheeler major decided to suspend operations at the manufacturing facility last week as workers protested for a over a week against the retrenchment of their 200 contractual colleagues.

"Discussions are going on...there were 200 contractual workers whose tenure was over and they won't be employed further," HMSI Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Yadvinder Singh Guleria told reporters here when asked to comment on the matter.

The stand-off at the facility, which employs around 1,900 permanent workers and 2,500 contract workers, began on November 5 morning when the company management did not allow some of the contractual workers to go inside the plant.

HMSI Employee Union leaders had alleged that the company had reduced production of the facility by 50 per cent and is in the process of retrenching contractual workers.

The plant, which has three assembly lines two for motorcycles and one for scooters will now remain shut until further notice or till the matter settles.

In a statement last week, HMSI had said that based on demand fluctuations and production adjustment 200 contractual members whose term had been completed were relieved from their work.

"Necessary recruitment will be considered on the basis of future market requirements," the company had said.