The impasse at Toyota Kirloskar Motor continues with workers staying away from work on Monday.
In a statement, the company said it had lifted the lockout and would keep shifts running. “The plants will be open for team members to join duty on the condition that they sign the simple good conduct undertaking,” the statement said.
A workers’ union spokesperson, however, said that unless the company waives the condition to sign the undertaking on an individual basis, they would not join duty.
“The union is ready to sign the undertaking but not on an individual basis,” said Satish Kumar, General-Secretary of the union.
He said that the company had changed its stance several times, and this had resulted in mistrust. Kumar said that after a meeting organised by the State Labour Minister between union leaders and the management, the workers had decided to return to work.
But the management decided to suspend some workers on the same day even though no issue was raised during the meeting with the minister, he alleged. “Therefore, we had no other option but to revise our stand,” he added.
He said the company was trying to divert attention from the main issue of paying higher wages by resorting to suspension and lockout.
Kumar also said that more than 80 per cent of the 4,200 workers will get lower wages than the ₹3,050 increase the company had offered under the new wage agreement.
The union also alleged that even though the management has claimed that production had been halted because of the agitation, several contract workers with no formal training to work on the shop-floor had been hired. This was a violation of the Contract Labour Act, it alleged.
Kumar alleged that though the company kept citing lower sales as the reason for not paying higher wages, the reality was different.
“The management refused to furnish the profit and loss account, stating that they won’t be able to share it because it is a privately held company.”
In a statement, Union President Prasanna Kumar CS said several workers had committed suicide because of the poor working conditions as well as harassment by the management. “Several others are suffering from poor health and other medical conditions,” he said.