The government of Haryana passed prohibitory orders on the worker’s strike taking place at the Manesar facility of Maruti Suzuki on Friday.
This matter is now sent for referral to a regional industrial tribunal and labour court for adjudication. The strike at the worker’s plant is now into its 7th day as both of the sides are refusing to change their position.
An official from the Labour Department of Haryana was quoted as saying that once this matter comes under scrutiny of the judiciary, none of the parties involved can discriminate the court reference by acts like lock-out and strikes under the Section 10 (1) of Industrial Disputes Act of 1947.
A decision will be made by the court on four different legal points that are, if the strike can be justified or not; if the strike is legal, then regarding the relief to be granted; if the 11 employees who were terminated was justifiable or not; if firing them was illegal, then regarding the relief to be offered to them.
The AITUCs General Secretary, Gurudas Gupta said that the latest move by the government of Haryana is uncalled for. He said that people have a constitutional right to strike, that the law court cannot deliberate. The act is justifiable only if the case concerns essential services like public utility. The manufacturing of cars cannot be termed as essential service.
Members of the AITUC met with the chief minister of Haryana on Friday, and will meet him today as well. According to sources, Maruti Suzuki will resume their production as fast as they can. Losses at supplier and dealers end, along with that of the company are mounting since the beginning of the strike.
Maruti Suzuki is said to have incurred a production loss of 6,400 cars and Rs.220 crores of forfeited revenue by Friday end. More than 2,000 Maruti workers on strike want their union, the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union at their Manesar plant to receive recognition. They also want no disciplinary action to be taken against the 11 terminated workers, as their second demand.
Maruti Suzuki’s biggest challenge currently is to decrease their long wait period of their popular diesel variants, the new SX4, the DZiRE and the Swift. On Friday, the shares of the company closed at INR 1,217.25 per share, a drop of 1.32% from the previous seven days on BSE.
