A section of the workers at Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL)’s plant at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, continued their strike for the third day on Friday. However, the workers’ attempt to have their concerns addressed by the Tamil Nadu government failed.
Meanwhile, in a statement, HMIL said production at the facility was according to schedule, and the number of striking workers had dropped from 180 to 150 on Friday.
R Sridhar, general secretary, Hyundai Motor India Employees Union (HMIEU), which is backed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu), said on Friday, about 600 people had participated in the strike. For the last two days, the union had said the number of striking workers was 700.
On Tuesday, the company produced 2,054 cars, while on Wednesday, the number rose to 2,157. Yesterday, the number of cars produced was 2,176 cars.
Meanwhile, HMIEU’s attempts to seek the intervention of the state government did not yield any result. Incidentally, A Soundararajan, general secretary, Citu, is a member of the state legislative assembly.
HMIEU is demanding the HMIL management reinstate 27 suspended employees, negotiate a wage agreement with HMIEU and recognise HMIEU. HMIL, however, said it recognised United Union of Hyundai Employees (UUHE), which had 1,300 of the 2007 permanent workers under its fold, as the official union. The company had signed a historic wage agreement with UUHE on October 18. It has categorically stated it wouldn’t recognise any other union. About 400 employees who aren’t members of UUHE have signed and accepted the wage settlement.