New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest passenger car maker, has reopened its Manesar facility and begun production on Tuesday morning. The plant had been locked out for nearly a month after clashes between workers and the management on July 18, in which a senior HR manager was killed. The company sacked 500 workers for their involvement in the violence.
Here are the latest developments in this story:
1) Work at the Manesar plant has resumed with 300 permanent workers working a single shift from 8 am to 4:30 pm.
2) Shares of Maruti Suzuki were up over 1 per cent in early trade on Tuesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The BSE Sensex index, in comparison, was up 0.7 per cent. It is off its morning high now, but is still trading up.
3) Last week, Maruti announced a phased start to production, also saying that it had identified about 500 workers who were involved in the violence that forced the shutdown on July 21. The company said it had lost confidence in them and that they would not be taken back. This list of 500 includes the 114 people arrested by the police and who are likely to face criminal proceedings, the company said.
4) The company has promised a safe working environment. It has said at least 500 Rapid Action Force personnel will guard the Manesar facility—200 inside the premises and 300 outside—100 in each shift. In addition, a force of 100 security guards comprising ex-servicemen, has been set up.
5) Forty personal security officers will look after the safety of managers, supervisors, and also workers, if necessary, Maruti said. The company has also made security arrangements at the homes of employees.
6) All the 96 people who were injured in the violence are now out of hospital.
7) Chairman R.C. Bhargava said there would be no discrimination between permanent employees and those on contract. The company did not elaborate. The best paid manufacturing workers at the Manesar plant earn about Rs 25,000 a month and 1,500 of them, on temporary contracts, earn about half that. The workers’ union has been pushing for a Rs 15,000 per month increase and that is a key reason for tension between workers and management at the plant.
8) The company has said it has started hiring workers on contract directly and not through contractors and that recruitment will begin from September 2.
9) On the evening of July 18, a skirmish between a worker and supervisor led to workers going on the rampage setting fire to parts of the plant and attacking management staff. A general manager, Awanish Kumar Dev, was burnt to death and 96 people were hospitalized.
10) Before the lockout Maruti's Manesar factory was making about 1,700 cars a day, including its top-selling Swift hatchback. The lockout cost the company nearly Rs 80 crore a day. The Manesar factory’s has a total annual capacity of 550,000 cars and produces a third of Maruti's output.
Here are the latest developments in this story:
1) Work at the Manesar plant has resumed with 300 permanent workers working a single shift from 8 am to 4:30 pm.
2) Shares of Maruti Suzuki were up over 1 per cent in early trade on Tuesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The BSE Sensex index, in comparison, was up 0.7 per cent. It is off its morning high now, but is still trading up.
3) Last week, Maruti announced a phased start to production, also saying that it had identified about 500 workers who were involved in the violence that forced the shutdown on July 21. The company said it had lost confidence in them and that they would not be taken back. This list of 500 includes the 114 people arrested by the police and who are likely to face criminal proceedings, the company said.
4) The company has promised a safe working environment. It has said at least 500 Rapid Action Force personnel will guard the Manesar facility—200 inside the premises and 300 outside—100 in each shift. In addition, a force of 100 security guards comprising ex-servicemen, has been set up.
5) Forty personal security officers will look after the safety of managers, supervisors, and also workers, if necessary, Maruti said. The company has also made security arrangements at the homes of employees.
6) All the 96 people who were injured in the violence are now out of hospital.
7) Chairman R.C. Bhargava said there would be no discrimination between permanent employees and those on contract. The company did not elaborate. The best paid manufacturing workers at the Manesar plant earn about Rs 25,000 a month and 1,500 of them, on temporary contracts, earn about half that. The workers’ union has been pushing for a Rs 15,000 per month increase and that is a key reason for tension between workers and management at the plant.
8) The company has said it has started hiring workers on contract directly and not through contractors and that recruitment will begin from September 2.
9) On the evening of July 18, a skirmish between a worker and supervisor led to workers going on the rampage setting fire to parts of the plant and attacking management staff. A general manager, Awanish Kumar Dev, was burnt to death and 96 people were hospitalized.
10) Before the lockout Maruti's Manesar factory was making about 1,700 cars a day, including its top-selling Swift hatchback. The lockout cost the company nearly Rs 80 crore a day. The Manesar factory’s has a total annual capacity of 550,000 cars and produces a third of Maruti's output.
