The strike between Maruti Suzuki employees and their company enters the thirteen day today. The crippling protests have completely shut down production operations at Maruti’s Manesar plant which has been the scene of these protests. In the morning session, the company’s share was trading at INR 1,195, a drop of 1.28% on the BSE. A spokesperson for the company was quoted as saying that the situation has changed his yesterday.
As of yesterday, the company incurred a loss of 11,400 models amounting to INR 570 crore following the ongoing strikes, which have halted production at the plant. Yesterday evening the chief minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda had a meeting the top executives at Maruti that included CEO and MD, Shinzo Nakanishi and reportedly assured the company of state support to not allow a second union.
Meanwhile, workers from around 65 factories in the Manesar-Gurgaon industrial belt decided to work on an empty stomach tomorrow, as well as hold a tool down strike for two hours tomorrow between 11am to 1pm to show their solidarity towards the employees striking at Maruti’s Manesar plant.
The wait period for three diesel variant models of Maruti, the SX4, DZiRE and Swift has increased by another month because of the ongoing strike, which has the company fearing the impact it will have on their sales for the months because of production loss.
The Managing Executive Officer of Sales and Marketing at Maruti Suzuki India, Mayank Pareek, said that they usually produce cars according to the demand in the market. As a result, the loss in production they are facing, will affect their sales for the month. The strike began on June 4, with workers at Maruti’s Manesar plant demanding that the company recognize their newly formed Maruti Suzuki Employees Union. The new union was formed by workers at the plant and a few others.
Though a spokesperson for the company said that only around 600 employees are on strike, the General Secretary of MSEU, Shiv Kumar pegged the number at 2,000. Maruti earlier sacked 11 employees who were allegedly responsible for inciting the workers to go on strike.
As of now, Maruti has a recognized union, the Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union that is dominated by employees at their Gurgaon plant. The Maruti plant at Manesar produces around 1,200 models per day in 2 separate shifts. The facility produces the A-Star and Swift hatchbacks and the SX4 and DZiRE sedans.