The Hyundai Motor India Employees Union has decided to launch an agitation, including a strike at the Hyundai car plant, demanding reinstatement of dismissed workers and a long term wage settlement.
The HMIEU is a registered union but is not recognised by the Hyundai Motor India Ltd management. The dismissed workers lost their jobs during the course of agitations demanding recognition, according to the union representatives.
The Korean car manufacturer has entered into a three-year wage settlement with another union, the United Union of Hyundai Employees, which it has recognised.
At the general body meeting of the HMIEU held in Poonamallee, a Chennai-suburb about 25 km to the West, A. Soundararajan, Honorary President of the HMIEU, said he will lead a peaceful agitation demanding the reinstatement of the dismissed workers. The union will call for a strike if needed. There will not be industrial peace without the workers getting their jobs back, he said.
In 2008, nearly 90 workers had been dismissed but many had been reinstated through the intervention of the State Government and the union. But 27 workers are yet to be reinstated. It is not “natural justice” that workers penalised on similar grounds are treated differently, he said.
The HMIEU also does not accept the wage settlement it has finalised with the UUHE on October 18 for 2012-15. The UUHE does not represent the majority of the workers, according to Soundararajan. The HMIEU, an independent union representing the permanent workers, is willing to prove its majority through a secret ballot.
R. Sridhar, General Secretary, HMIEU, said the agitation is imminent. It will be launched “tomorrow or the day after.” Since 2008 the HMIEU has organised three strikes to press for its demands and will launch a fourth strike, if needed.