Labour Minister Mallikarju Kharge urges state government to end Maruti Strike

The Central Government today has encouraged the Haryana state Government to take the necessary steps to end the ongoing 13-day strike at MSI’s Manesar plant. The Union Labour Minister, Mallikarju Kharge has reportedly said that the MSI issue lies with the State jurisdiction and the Central Government has no say in the matter. Yesterday the Haryana Government had brokered the talks between the MSI management and the MSEU representatives, however without any conclusive outcome.

The Labour Minister has further clarified that though the labour department falls in the concurrent list, where the State Government or the Central Government has the right to state the law, the action has to be taken by the State Government alone. The 13 day strike has begun on October 7^th after the MSI workers have demanded the management to reinstate the 1,200 contract employees apart from their initial demand to take back the 44 suspended workers. This is in continuation of the 1 month long impasse which ended on October 1^st after the workers signed the ‘good conduct bond’ agreeing to the clauses included in the bond stating that the management will refrain from reinstating the 44 suspended employees. Hence, the Haryana Government had called the ongoing strike illegal as the workers are negating their own actions.

The labour unrest at the Manesar plant has spread to its sister concerns including Suzuki Powertrain India LTD (SPIL) and Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL). The SPIL manufactures the components for Maruti Suzuki India, which are supplied to the Manesar and the Gurgaon plants for rolling out the units. Due to the lack of component supply, the production was put on pause on 13^th and 14^th of this month at the Manesar and the Gurgaon plants, however, the operations have resumed since 15^th October. The 400 workers are said to begin the work at the plants bringing the production at the Gurgaon plant to near normalcy, while the production at Manesar plant has been partially resumed.

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