Workers of Maruti’s Manesar plant who were terminated following the violence on July 18 began a dharna in front of the Gurgaon Court/District Commissioner’s Office on Wednesday. Tension was palpable in the area.
However, the company said it will not take back 546 workers who were sacked till the investigations are completed. Of the 546 workers, police investigations are on against around 200 workers.
“We will see them in the Labour Court, which will take some time. We cannot call those workers back,” a spokesperson from the company told
In a release on Tuesday, the Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Union (MSWU) had demanded, among other things, an independent, impartial probe into the incident and the role of the management, the immediate release of all arrested workers and the reinstatement of all 546 terminated workers.
The recognised Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union said on Tuesday that it will not take part in the hunger strike nor join in the protest.
When contacted, Kuldeep Janghu, General Secretary of Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union, said they had “kept an eye on the protest” held on Wednesday and added that the police picked up around 40 people in the morning from the protest area.
“They were released at around 3 p.m., but two of them were held back and the police said they will be released late in the evening after questioning,” he said, adding that the dharna will end on Thursday at 4 p.m.
The provisional working committee of the MSWU said the united protest action was to seek justice for 149 workers ‘languishing’ in Gurgaon Central Jail for the last three-and-a-half months, and the 546 permanent workers who have been terminated.
On Thursday, the workers plan to take out a rally in the area to submit a memorandum to the local Minister. They claimed they were forced into this protest action as the workers’ family members, relatives and well-wishers had given umpteen memorandums to all the Ministers in the State but in vain.
Meanwhile, trade unions have condemned the Maruti Manesar management for what they called ‘operating under police cover’. “This is a complete violation of all democratic norms in the country,” Satbir Singh, President, Haryana Centre of Indian Trade Unions, said.
A special investigation team formed by the Haryana Government has reportedly concluded that the violence at the plant on July 18, in which an HR manager was killed, was due to internal issues between the management and workers. It is said to have ruled out external influence, as suspected by the company.