Bitter rift at Toyota's plant in Bidadi, Bangalore had resulted in production nearly coming to a complete standstill in recently. Stand-off between the management and union workers has been-on for about five weeks now. The issue over hike in pay has finally come to end and employees have returned back to work. The issue had hit a road block when the striking employees denied on resuming duties citing unreasonable "good conduct" pledge put forth from the management towards the employee union.
As per a recent order released by the Government of Karnataka, Japanese car-maker Toyota and its labour union has been asked to restore normal operations at the local unit on an immediate basis. A statement released by Toyota said, “The government of Karnataka, in order to maintain industrial peace and harmony, has issued an order asking the company and the union to restore normalcy in operations immediately. All relevant issues between the workers and the management have been referred for adjudication.” Intervention by the state government proved vital in ending the conflict with the labor union.
R Satish, General Secretary, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Union, said, “All our members have reported to duty and joined the shift as per the roster. We are also relieved that the management did not ask us to sign any conditional letter it was insisting since March 24. Resuming work has been smooth as we did not face any problem on the shop floor or in the assembly lines with our supervisors or management staff.” He further added, “With all issues, including wage hike and suspension being referred to the industrial tribunal for adjudication, we returned to work in the interests of all.”
During the strike situation, Shekar Viswanathan, Vice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motors Ltd, was herd as saying, “Our production has declined 50 percent to 350 cars from 700 cars a day, as the twin plants are operating in one shift with about 1,200 supervisors, technicians, apprentices and contract laborers. We were forced to declare lockout after production dropped to 70 percent from 95 percent during the first fortnight of March and due to unrest caused by a section of the workers, raising safety concerns of supervisors, managerial staff and plant machinery.”
