Agitating Honda Motorcycle workers end 52-day protest

The agitating workers of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) have ended their demonstration, including hunger strike, on Wednesday. Hundreds of workers, who were sacked by the company from its Tapukara plant in Rajasthan, have been protesting against the company since September 19.  

These workers had been camping at Jantar Mantar in the capital and succeeded in mobilising support from various trade unions and some political parties though the company has declined to take them back. The workers will now shift their protest to Rajasthan in due course.

Honda is the second largest two-wheeler player in the Indian market. A large number of workers in the company’s Tapukara plant went on a strike on February 16, which the company termed illegal. The company claimed workers damaged various units of the plant and disturbed operations seeking reinstatement of four workers whose services were terminated over indiscipline. 

The plant has a capacity to produce 1.2 million two-wheelers a year. Workers claim that the cases filed against them were a ploy to stop them from forming union. The terminated workers, about 200 permanent and several hundred contractual, have been protesting for last many months seeking an end to all charges and reinstatement of jobs.