As Toyota Kirloskar imposes another lockout at its Bidadi plants days after lifting it following the intervention of the Karnataka Labour Minister, it is becoming clear that the carmaker is finding it difficult to handle the labour strife — a problem it has battled since it launched its operations in India over two decades ago.

While Toyota Kirloskar has said that it had to resort to another lockout because of the unruly behaviour of the workers and their continued absence, sources in the industry and former key executives claim that the unrest is largely because of constant tinkering with the labour policy of the automaker.

ALSO READDue to labour strike, Toyota declares Bidadi plant lock-out

“With the change of every managing director, even the labour policy would change. Some of them were extremely liberal with the workers, some of the others were unwilling to budge. Hence, the labour issues kept escalating over a period of time,” sources close to the company told BusinessLine .

Difficult working conditions

The current issue is a combination of several factors. One, with the employees getting older, it is becoming difficult for them to carry out the same workload and at the same time, their grievances are not being given a patient hearing, they said.

In a recent media interaction, the Toyota Kirloskar Employees Union President Prasanna Kumar also pointed out that Toyota’s production practices, based on Kaizen or continuous improvement, were one of the main reasons for the tension between the management and the employees. He said that some of the work that needs to be completed in a specific period of time had now been shrunk, making it difficult for the workers to carry out that work.

But sources pointed out that with the workers getting older, their ability to perform functions unlike their counterparts in Japan who are much more health-conscious is one of the reasons for the poor performance at the workplace. Added to it, they do not get the kind of breaks during work hours which their counterparts in Indonesia get, sources said.

Sources also said that the suspension of over 35 employees was unprecedented. “The suspension of so many workers was unnecessary. The situation could have been handled much better had the management reached out to them,” sources said.

Bid for resolution

However, the management disagrees with this claim. It said that the company was always interested in resolving the issues in a manner which benefitted the workers and Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM).

“TKM would like to find a quick resolution to this ongoing situation through mutual trust and respect, and with better communication with the members. Unfortunately, the same isn’t being respected or reciprocated by some members who have been vitiating fundamentally expected behaviour required for seeking an end to this illegal strike,” the company said in a statement.

Despite the company’s numerous and continuous efforts to maintain a cordial and healthy working environment, Toyota Kirloskar Motor had to declare a ‘lockout’ at both its plants in Bidadi, Karnataka, on November 10 as a result of an illegal ‘sit-in strike’ as called upon by the Worker’s Union and its member, the statement said. It said the strike was called upon protesting the suspension of one of the employees who has had a systematic record of misconducts and was again involved in a breach of discipline and unacceptable behaviour within the factory premises.

The statement said even after the withdrawal of the lock-out by the management, only a few team members reported to work as on date, as per their shift schedule and a majority of the team members are continuing their illegal strike.

The lockout comes at a difficult time for the management as it is trying to revive its sales, which had been continuously going down even before the pandemic hit the country. During the last couple of months, Toyota Kirloskar’s passenger car sales were increasing and with the recent launch of compact SUV, Urban Cruiser, it expected a major boost to its total sales. According to one of the dealers, the lockout has not only hurt the sales but even delayed the deliveries of cars.

 

Related Topics