Maruti aims to start ops of 2nd unit at Manesar

Maruti Suzuki may commence operations at its second Manesar plant in a day or two. The companys engineers are working practically 24×7 to bring the second plant on stream.

The second plant was planned to be commissioned by late September, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

The second plant at Manesar has been set up with an investment of nearly Rs 1,700 crore,it added.

Since the company is short of manpower at this stage,starting operations at this second plant will be a shot in the arm for the company, MSI said.

With no solution in sight to the ongoing stalemate between the management and workers,the company is hiring contract workers to run its operations.

Today,Maruti Suzuki further strengthened the production activities at the Manesar plant as it hired more skilled and experienced people yesterday. A fresh batch of 180 experienced and ITI trained workers joined the production activities this morning, the firm said.

The company today rolled out 100 cars from the facility,a company spokesperson said.

Yesterday,the company had brought in 120 ITI trained workers to the Manesar facility. In addition,it has already deployed 50 engineers from the companys Gurgaon plant and around 290 supervisors for production activities at the plant.

In all,the company now has 680 trained and experienced people available for production. All these people are being deployed to start and scale up production at the plant, the statement said.

MSI will continue the recruitment drive for trained workers to normalise production in coming days,it added.

Meanwhile,1,500-2,000 workers assembled today at the gate of the Manesar facility to support the MSI employees and held a protest rally.

The agitation in the industrial belt has been spearheaded by All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC),the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS).

Workers from various facilities such as Suzuki Powertrain India,Rico Auto and Omaxe Auto joined the stir.

Addressing the gathering,AITUC Secretary D L Sachdev said,Formation of a union is the basic Constitutional right of a worker and MSI management is going against the laws. The managements act to curb this right is highly condemnable. Asked about the future course of action,he said the joint action committee,which was formed in June to support the 13-day strike at MSIs Manesar plant,will hold a meeting tonight and will discuss among its members.

We are thinking to organise a march to the District Labour Commissioners office and submit a memorandum to interfere on the matter. We will discuss this option tonight and take a final call after that, Sachdev said.

In a statement,CPI(M) Haryana state unit termed the actions taken on MSI workers as an act of vindictive and totally illegal that amounts to blatant denial of right to form union guaranteed under the Constitution.

The production at the Manesar plant has been affected since Monday after the company decided to force workers to sign a good conduct bond before entering the factory premises,following alleged sabotage and deliberate quality compromise with cars produced last week.

On the first two days of the stand-off,MSI dismissed 5 permanent workers. Besides,it also suspended 26 permanent workers and discontinued the services of another 18 trainees on charges of sabotage and causing quality problems in cars.

MSI workers at the plant,however,said the management took these steps in revenge for their 13-day strike in June demanding the recognition of a new union — the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU) — at the unit located in Haryana.

Workers have been dismissed or suspended without any enquiry. Before taking any action against any indiscipline,the norm is that there should be an internal enquiry. However,nothing such happened here, MSEU President Sonu Gujjar said.

The workers are not on a strike and they want to join duty,but the management is not allowing them to get inside the factory premises,he added.

A total of 50 regular workers at the plant have signed the good conduct bond so far. The plant,which produces models such as Swift,A-Star and SX4,has a total of about 2,500 workers,of which 950 are regular employees.

With vehicle production being affected,MSI has suffered an estimated production loss of about 3,500 units,valued at around Rs 175 crore so far.