Toyota India labour strikes chord in Japan

Zenroren to take up TKM workers' issue with Toyota Corp, Tokyo.

The Japanese workers' union Zenroren, or the National Federation of Japanese Workers, is planning to hold its annual 'Spring Offensive' of February 11, which will include a demonstration outside Toyota Motor Corporation's headquarters in Tokyo in support of their Indian comrades in Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM).

M K Pandhe, president, Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said that at the behest of Zenroren, a three point memorandum has been sent to Japan which will be placed before the Toyota management there. The TKM workers' union here has been holding its strikes and protests with the support of CITU.

In the three point memorandum sent to Zenroren, CITU has demanded that the TKM management withdraw all "victimisation measures against workers participating in the strike".

"The Toyota management should respect Indian laws and implement them fully. We also demand that the Toyota management in Bangalore settle all demands relating to wages and service condition by negotiating with CITU," the memorandum mentioned.

"The union in Japan had come out in support of the workers here when there was a dispute between Honda (Motorcycle and Scooter India) workers and its management in Manesar last year. However, this will be the first time they will be demonstrating on behalf of the Indian workers in Japan," said Pandhe.

Pandhe, however, said that the Zenroren, unlike unions in India, had limited political clout. The Zenroren is the second largest national labour union in Japan, after Rengo, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation.

Early last August, Zenroren, in response to the appeal from the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and CITU had sent its message of solidarity to the workers of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI).

The labour-management dispute at the TKM plant near Bangalore is almost a year old now. Work was struck in May last year and again for a period of almost two weeks in January this year.

Though the strike in May was settled through a wage revision, the case of suspended workers remained unresolved, leading to a second round of strike early this year. However, the state labour secretary passed an order banning the strike on January 20.