Bajaj workers from Chakan plant go on stop-work stir

Their demands included revision of wages and withdrawal of suspension notices issued to 13 workers. “We have been demanding shares of Bajaj Auto Ltd as compensation,but the company has turned us down,” he said. Pawar added that they have been seeking equal pay for contract labourers and had approached the industrial tribunal with their grievances. “However,the management kept mounting pressure on us to withdraw our case,and in retaliation also suspended some employees,” he said.

Pawar said the plant has 925 permanent workers and 1,200 contract and temporary workers along with trainees. “All of us have joined the stop-work,” he said.

The Chakan plant manufactures the company’s most successful motorbike – Pulsar range – at Chakan,and has a capacity of 1.2 million units.

According to the company’s annual report,0.88 million units rolled out from the plant in the 2012-13 fiscal. The plant works in two shits and has been making,on an average,1,500 to 2,000 motorbikes every day. All production has beem halted since Tuesday,Pawar said,adding that although supervisors and managers had been given the wage hike,the company denied the workers the same.

Bajaj Auto Ltd has informed BSE that the company has received a notice from the workmen’s union of its Chakan plant viz Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana,stating that they propose to call a “stoppage of work” by all workmen employed at Chakan plant from the morning shift of June 28,2013,for the reason that management had refused to concede their demands that all the workmen working in Bajaj Auto Ltd should each be given an option to subscribe to 500 equity shares of the company at a discounted price of Re.1 per share. The workmen have,however,stopped coming to the Chakan plant from June 25,2013,itself,without assigning any reason for this action.

Police inspector Sushil Kadam of Chakan police said his department held a meeting with the union to discuss the issue. “The union had stated they would be going on a strike from June 28,but they started their strike on Tuesday itself. We have arranged for adequate police bandobast at the plant,” he said.