Motorcycle production at Bajaj Auto’s Chakan plant is down to nearly 10 per cent of the daily average since Tuesday, as workers stuck to their demand for employee stock options (ESOP), and stayed away from work for the fourth consecutive day on Friday.
Sambhaji More, Pune’s Assistant Labour Commissioner, said he was told that around 175 people — mainly staff and trainees — had reported to work.
In addition to 925 permanent unionised workers, the Bajaj Chakan workforce includes around 600 contract workers, nearly 100 interns, 350 trainees and 150 members of staff.
According to component suppliers, Bajaj Auto’s Chakan plant produced 200-odd motorcycles each on June 25 and 26, against an average of 2,300 in early June. According to them, workers had been on a slowdown since June 19.
This, coupled with the fact that there is hardly any trained manpower for production now, Bajaj Auto will end up making less than 44,000 units, against the planned 81,000 units during June, they said.
Chakan is where the company makes its flagship product Pulsar, and premium Kawasaki and KTM bikes.
Not a strike
Vishwakalyan Kamgar Sanghatana (VKS), the union that entered the Chakan plant just three years ago, and now has 925 members, had called for the strike.
VKS president Dilip Pawar was categorical that they had approached the Pune labour office about a wage revision, but that was a separate matter.
The only issue for the present strike was their demand that each worker gets 500 shares at a discounted price of Re 1 a share.
“We had sent the management a letter with this demand in January 2013, and since they refused to consider it we sent them a ‘work stoppage’ notice on June 11,” he said, insisting that this was not a strike, but work stoppage.
Though the Bajaj Auto scrip was affected by the news of the strike on Tuesday, it recovered and rose by Rs 82 (4.47 per cent) to close at Rs 1,919 at the end of Friday’s trading session on the BSE.
alka.k@thehindu.co.in