Even as India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, on Thursday said it would lift the month-long lockout and resume production at the violence-hit Manesar unit from Tuesday, it sacked a third of its permanent workforce at the facility.
The company said it would no longer employ contract workers in production activities and would conduct a screening of the 1,869 workers hired on contract from September 2. Those deemed “fit” by Maruti Suzuki would be absorbed as permanent workers. The company would employ a fifth of its workforce on short-term agreements for non-core activities.
R C Bhargava, chairman, said, “We plan to lift the lockout and resume partial production from August 21. Our officials who were injured in the incident on July 18 and others who managed to escape have identified workers who were involved in the violence. We have lost confidence in them and have issued termination notices to over 500 such employees. It is possible that once more people are identified more notices will be sent out.” Maruti Suzuki has 1,528 permanent workers at Manesar.
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The company would commence production work with 300-odd permanent workers under heavy police protection and manufacture about 150 cars on Tuesday. The unit used to manufacture around 1,600 vehicles every day before it was closed.
The company declined to specify the number of workers it was looking at hiring to scale up production to optimum levels but said it would have to begin recruitment to fill the places of those sacked in connection with the violence.
