The Hindu Business Line : Rico strike ends; nine of 16 suspended workers rejoin

The labour unrest at Rico Auto’s unit in Manesar ended on Friday as workers and company officials reached a settlement. The unions and workers had previously threatened a strike across the Manesar-Gurgaon belt on Friday, if no breakthrough came about in negotiations by Thursday evening.

With workers returning to work by the afternoon shift, the company now expects to go into full production within a day or two.

Settlement

According to a Rico official, a settlement between the striking workers and company officials involved reinstatement of nine of the 16 suspended workers. However, all striking workers will have to forgo pay for the strike period.

“We have taken back nine workers. Eight with immediate effect and one will join after a month. The seven others will remain suspended pending judicial enquiry. It has also been mutually agreed that workers will not get paid for the 45 days they missed work,” said Mr Surinder S. Chaudhury, Senior Vice-President, Human Resource, Rico Auto.

On the other issues such as wage hike, he said that the matter was with the labour court of the Haryana Government. Also, the registration for the union has been forwarded to the authorities concerned, he said.

He added that the company has paid Rs 10 lakh to the family of the worker killed in the clash on September 18 and agreed to bear the cost of education of his child. It has also offered employment to another member of the family.

‘Labour victory’

Mr Suresh Goud, Gurgaon district President of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), said: “The workers are happy with the settlement, it is a victory for the labour movement that we could get the attention of the labour commissioners on this issue.”

The AITUC is the umbrella organisation under which the labour unions and striking workers of the belt are organised.

The labour unrest, which had gone on for over a month, had spread to various auto component makers in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt. It had not only resulted in major production losses for Rico and other component makers but for various automakers, such as General Motors and Ford, these units supplied to.

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