Maruti workers' strike turns violent, 5 injured

The labour unrest at Maruti Suzuki India's Manesar plant took a violent turn on Thursday when a group of supervisors were attacked on their way to work, with five of them sustaining injuries.

According to the police, one Dhiraj Soni, a worker at the Manesar plant of the company, has been detained in relation to the incident.

"A medical examination of two injured employees is being carried out now and an FIR will be filed after that," a police official told PTI.

Another three supervisors that sustained injuries in the attack were admitted to Artemis Hospital here and later discharged after first aid, the police said.

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In a statement, the company condemned the attack on its supervisors, saying, "This was another desperate action by the striking workers, using violence and fear."

"By such violent acts, the striking workers have polluted the environment in Manesar. Such actions are damaging for the industrial climate in the Manesar belt. This will destroy jobs and prosperity in the region," it said.

The incident took place this morning when a group of 11 supervisors were stopped on their way to work by a group of people near the factory of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India's Manesar plant and were allegedly attacked.

Representatives of the agitating workers at MSI's Manesar plant could not be reached for comments, as repeated calls remained unanswered.

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The MSI management and workers have been locked in a standoff since August 29, when the management prevented workers from entering the factory premises unless they signed a 'good conduct' bond, after alleged sabotage and deliberate compromise on the quality of cars being produced.

The bond required the workers to declare they would "not resort to go slow, intermittent stoppage of work, stay-in-strike, work-to-rule, sabotage or otherwise indulge in any activity, which would hamper normal production in the factory".

In support of their colleagues at MSI's Manesar plant, workers at three factories operated by two of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp's subsidiaries located in the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt -- Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd and Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd -- have been on strike since Wednesday afternoon.

Maruti stir to end?

Workers at Maruti Suzuki India's Manesar plant allegedly attacked a group of supervisors on Thursday, but Haryana Minister for Labour and Employment Shiv Charan Lal Sharma is confident that the 18-day stand-off between the plant workers and management will be resolved by tomorrow (Friday).

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The minister said he will hold talks with the workers and management at Maruti Suzuki's plant in Manesar again on Thursday to put an end to the labour unrest.

"I am leaving for Gurgaon (Manesar) today to meet workers and management (Maruti Suzuki) to resolve this issue and I am hoping that the standoff between both parties will come to an end either today or tomorrow," Sharma told PTI.

The minister said that he would first meet workers and management officials separately. "Thereafter, I will meet both the parties together to end the impasse," he said.

Notably, Maruti Suzuki has declared that it will not hold talks with the agitating workers that have refused to sign a 'good conduct' bond.

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Sharma asked protesting workers to shun their agitation and return to duty as a prolonged workers' stir could prove to be damaging for industrial growth and employment generation in the state of Haryana.

"Workers are not realising that the Japanese company, which is giving employment to a lot of state people, may move to another state if such kind of labour unrest continues to happen and it will be a big loss for the state. Therefore, they should come back and start working in the factory," he said.

The minister alleged that two or three workers are not allowing the impasse between the workers and management to end.