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Close to 3,000 members of the TKMEU attended the general body meeting, held in front of the main gate of the factory today, agreed to end the strike and return to work, said a top TKMEU office bearer.
"We have unanimously decided to conclude our relay hunger strike. All our members will rejoin for their duty starting from the first shift at 6 am on Tuesday. The Union wholeheartedly welcomes the state government decision to ban the lockout at the factory. Our charter of demands including wage hike for 2013-14 will be adjudicated in the court of law," said R Satish, general secretary, TKMEU told Business Standard.
The state government, on Saturday, issued an order directing both the management of TKM and Employees Union to restore normalcy at their factories in the interest of industrial peace and harmony in and around Bangalore. It had also interpreted the stand of the management in asking for signing an undertaking for good conduct from the workers as continuation of lock out and prohibited it.
The management is said to have told the workers to return to the work without any undertaking immediately, the sources in the know said.
When contacted, Toyota Kirloskar said, "The government has requested the Company and the Union to restore normalcy in operations immediately. Under these circumstances it is important for the Union and the Company to comply with and facilitate the execution of the government"s order."
With this, the 36-day long strike at twin car plants has ended and the regular car production is set to begin from Tuesday. The TKM management had declared lockout on March 16 and withdrew it on March 24, 2014 with the condition of signing a good conduct undertaking from the workers. However, the workers had refused to sign undertaking and had launched a hunger strike from April 1 and later converted it into a relay hunger strike.
"The matter is now in the court of law. All our demands will be discussed in the Tribunal. But, we are open for any out of court discussion with the management and settlement. If the management is ready for talks, we are open for it," Satish said.
As regards to suspension of 30 workers, the company said it would continue with the suspension and conduct an independent enquiry. "We have a systematic process in place that also involves external parties for fair enquiry. The principles of natural justice, governing this process will be followed and the penalties meted out in line with its results," the company added.
