Third strike in 13 months, even as conciliation proceedings on.
Production at Korean car major Hyundai Motor’s manufacturing facility at Sriperumbudur, near here, was paralysed from Sunday midnight, after employees went on a flash strike.
Heads of the Hyundai Motor India Employees Union (HMIEU) said this was an indefinite strike. The union had called two strikes last year after the management had refused to recognise it as the majority one and had, instead, signed a pay agreement with the recognised one.
The fallout from those strikes remains unresolved and a meeting between the parties had been scheduled for Tuesday even before the strike, by the office of the state government’s chief labour commissioner, as the latest in a series of ‘conciliation’ proceedings.
The Hyundai management said the strike was illegal, as there was an earlier court order barring the union from any “unlawful activity” within the factory, and any assembly within a certain radius of the premises. Noting the strike had been called despite the pendency of conciliation proceedings, it said it had approached the government for intervention.
Saying it had been forced to suspend production due to a sit-in by about 150 employees (the factory employs 10,000 in all, in four shifts), the management said the loss in daily production of 2,200 cars had meant a value hit of around Rs 65 crore.
Thangapandian, deputy president of the HMIEU, said the last agreement signed, on January 20, between the two sides had stated the issues would be addressed through proper dialogue.
“The company did not keep up its promise on whatever was stated in the agreement, so we have decided to go on strike,” he said.
The issues under dispute, beside that of recognising the HMIEU as the representative union, include the reinstatement of workers dismissed after last year’s strikes. The agreement of July 28 last year, ending the second major stir (the first was in April-May) had said the company would take back 20 of the 87 dismissed and review the cases of the rest, one by one.
The company had later said it would not take back any of the others, since they had been guilty of gross misconduct, including damage to company property. The union had insisted all be reinstated. Conciliation proceedings had been on for these and related demands, but had got nowhere.
The company reiterated this stand today. “The management has decided not to reinstate any more of the dismissed employees,” a spokesperson said. "As per the agreement (of last July), this strike and demand for the reinstatement of the rest is illegal. We hope the state government intervenes to ensure a solution to this matter."
