| HMSI has refused to take the workers back, saying there is no legal obligation, and has claimed that they were outsourced from a labour contractor for a definite period. |
| However, the company today announced a "good conduct" scheme covering all contract workers, under which, all those who avail of just one leave per month will be eligible for a monthly incentive of Rs 500 and those taking leave for two days in a month will be given Rs 300 a month. |
| The 200-odd striking workers continued their protest, converting it into a chain hunger strike from this morning. They staged their protest at HMSI's main gate, but no untoward incident was reported. |
| H S Shekhwat, vice-president (general affairs), HMSI, said, "The plant is operating smoothly, churning out 2,600 units daily, and all our regular employees are on duty. We are not in the picture as the stalemate continues between the workers and the contractors who employed them." |
| Meanwhile, the striking workers today received sympathetic support of the HMSI employees union and other trade union bodies like the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). |
| Suresh Gaur, president of the employees' union at HMSI, said, "We have decided to support the workers. We will soon approach the HMSI management and co-ordinate negotiations between the warring parties." |
| D L Sachdev, the national secretary of AITUC, said all these workers were employed in the perennial nature of work and could not be arbitrarily shunted out by HMSI. AITUC has written to the labour department of Haryana to resolve the matter at the earliest. |
| The deployment of police, including the Rapid Action Force, has been on a high at the Honda plant, even as the HMSI management has beefed its private security set-up by putting armed guards on duty. |
| Shekhawat said, "As genuine workers constitute a small portion of the mob that has gathered outside, we have also asked the government agencies to maintain highest alert." |
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