Pune: The auto industry, though perturbed with the labour violence at Maruti Suzuki’s plant at Manesar last month, does not see any large-scale disturbance in the management-worker relations in other auto belts like Pune, Chakan, Halol, Chennai and Pantnagar. Even the Gurgaon-Manesar belt, which is home to another plant of Maruti at Gurgaon and plants of companies like HeroMotocorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India, has not seen any major trouble since the violence at Manesar.
However, wage revision process at Bajaj Auto next year and Tata Motors sometime later this month would show how the management-worker relationship progresses.
When FE spoke to union leaders at some of these companies, they did point out to some dissatisfaction and past labour strikes at their respective plants, but maintained they do not plan to go on any major strike disrupting production as workers at Maruti’s Manesar plant have been doing for the last one year.
For instance, in the Pune belt, which is home to the production units of Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto, labour trouble is a thing of the past. There was a firing killing two workers at Bajaj’s Akurdi plant way back in 1979 and in 2008 there was a 65-day agitation when the company wanted to shut the plant. A small trouble erupted at the company’s plant at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand in June, but was resolved within a day. Bajaj Auto did not respond to queries from FE on the company’s management-worker relationship.
Highlighting the labour issues at the company’s Pantnagar plant, Bajaj Auto union — Vishwa Kalyan Kamgaar Sanghatana — president Dilip Pawar said that workers have reached out to them for support and are joining hands to strengthen their position. Similarly, there are 2,700 workers at Waluj, out of which close to 2,000 are contract workers who have expressed desire to join the union.
Since the Vishwa Kalyan union is an internal union at the Akurdi and Chakan plant, the company would not like workers from other plants to come on board. Anyway, a new wage settlement is due to be negotiated at Chakan and Akurdi in less than a year and that may show how things proceed in future. Pawar said things will never deteriorate to the extent it had happened at Maruti.
For Tata Motors, too, labour trouble has become part of history now. Last time any major industrial strike happened was way back in 1989. The workers are quite well paid at the company, earning up to R32,656 per month. Beginners earn around R12,000-13,000 per month. The company also provides for free food and transport facility.
Shishupal Tomar, senior leader with the Tata Motors Employees Union, said the relationship between the workers and management is good and issues are dealt with professionally. They have access to Tata Motors’ Mumbai headquarters and can even meet chairman Ratan Tata.
“Last time (in June) he came and ate the same food at our canteen. Workers revere him as a father figure. We can go to him and not fear local managers,” said Tomar. The future relationship would, however, be clear sometime later this month when the new wage agreement negotiations begin. Another issue that would determine future relations is the growing number of contractual workers with their numbers at around 8,000 against 7,500 permanent workers.
Korean auto maker Hyundai Motor India, which has also gone through labour strike in 2010, said that it does not foresee any trouble in the offing as its practices and procedures are in place. The company employs permanent and temporary workers in the ratio of 70:30. Contractual workers are not employed for core areas and are paid around R14,000 per month.
General Motors, which has its plant at Halol in Gujarat and faced a prolonged labour trouble in 2009 which was resolved with the state government stepping in, does not foresee any trouble and says it engages with the workers quite frequently.
However, working conditions and salary of the rising number of contractual workers may become one of the reasons for trouble if not paid timely attention. The Shramik Ekta Mahasangh, which is a federation in Pune’s Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial belt, says contract workers are exploited by contractors. “Salaries are poor in the range of R4,500 to R5,600 and workers often do not receive benefits,” Kishore Dhoble, president, Shramik Ekta Mahasangh, said.
