The management of Bosch, the Indian subsidiary of Germany's Bosch Group and the manufacturer of automotive components, today declared an "indefinite lockout of all workmen from the plant operations" at its Jaipur plant with effect from December 12. The Jaipur plant has 1,200 employees and manufactures pumps for use in tractors and commercial vehicles.
According to a company statement, the decision has been taken as a result of workmen not reporting for duties and continuing their illegal and unlawful strike, even after it was termed illegal and prohibited by the government of Rajasthan. Last week, the government had issued an order to workmen to report on duty immediately.
The Mico Bosch Labour Union has been on an indefinite strike at the Jaipur plant since November 10 causing revenue loss to the company and the government. According to company sources, the loss is estimated to be in the range of Rs 100 crore in the initial four weeks of the strike. However, the company said it will continue the production with the help of the management staff.
The company management had held a series of meetings with the labour union representatives in the presence of the joint labour commissioner of the Rajasthan government to resolve the issue. Even after many conciliatory meetings, the union representatives showed reluctance to cooperate for an amicable settlement and held on to their demands.
The union members also resorted to violent means to prevent movement of vehicles to the plant and scuttle the production process, the statement said.
The company explored all possible legal options to settle this matter but were left with no option due to non-cooperation from the striking union members. Hence, the company has been forced to take the legal route, it said.
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Meanwhile, the board of directors at their meeting held today accepted the resignations of two of its joint managing directors — F Allerkamp and M Lakshminarayana, which will be effective from December 31, 2008.
While Allerkamp is going on to assume another responsibility at Bosch's headquarters in Germany, Lakshminarayan is retiring from his service. Post this revamp, Bosch India will have one joint managing director besides V K Viswanathan who is the current MD.