MRF employees to resume work today

Workers at three manufacturing plants of tyre major MRF have called off a strike over pay and other issues after the employees' union advised them to end the agitation. They are likely to resume work from the first shift from today.

The employees at the Arakonnam and Tiruvottiyur units - both in Tamil Nadu - went on strike on Monday, while those at the Pondicherry unit restored to a sit-in from Sunday.

While workers in Pondicherry and Arakonnam had common demands of reinstatement of dismissed employees and wage revision, at Tiruvottiyur the demand was for withdrawing CCTV cameras inside the factory premises.

V Prakash, honorary president of the three unions, said the floor-level workers had called the strike without the union committee's counsel, and the union had now advised the employees to resume work from the first shift on Wednesday.

The MRF unit at Tiruvottiyur, which is valued around Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion), produces crane, lorry, tractor and car tyres with a total capacity 4,000 tyres per day.

The Puducherry plant is valued at around Rs 795 crore (Rs 7.95 billion), and manufactures 13,500-15,000 car radial tyres per day.