Toyota strike enters 5th day

The strike by the workers of the Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) demanding reinstatement of the dismissed as well as suspended employees entered the fifth day on Tuesday.

About 1,000 workers staged dharna in front of the labour commissioner's office. The employees stayed overnight in front of the office and were supplied food by unions of 12 other Bangalore-based companies.

Meanwhile, labour commissioner K S Manjunath, on Tuesday called union leaders for discussion and asked them to vacate the office premises so that talks could be held on January 12.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Employees Union (TKMEU) has decided to hold a general body meeting on January 12 afternoon to discuss the outcome of the meeting with the labour commissioner and the management.

Karnataka minister for labour Tanvir Sait was not available for comment as he is on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

R Ravi, general secretary, TKMEU said, "We will not leave the management and will force them to take back the dismissed and suspended employees," and added that CPM politburo member Varadarajan and state secretary G Nagaraj has extended their support.

A R Shankar, general manager, corporate planning of TKM told Business Standard, the company has received a notice from the labour commissioner to attend the talks on January 12. At the meeting the management will be represented by Ramamurthy, senior general manager, HR. Shankar said, "We will attend the meeting if the peaceful atmosphere prevails."

Contradicting statements emanated from the management regarding the production of vehicles. Shankar said that production has come to a standstill. But there were reports that the management staff, who are also trained for production, began production at "a slow pace".