Six months after a 50-day employees’ strike at the Pune facility of Bajaj Auto Ltd was called off, the plant is bracing up for another showdown between employees and the management.

Dilip Pawar, president of the Vishwakalyan Kamgar Sanghatana (VKS) union has threatened to go on an indefinite hunger-strike from February 16 in front of the plant in Akurdi near Pune, demanding a new wage agreement.

The immediate provocation for the strike, however, is the suspension of five workers by the management on February 1.

Negotiations for the new wage agreement have been under way, but the union has maintained that these have not made any significant headway.

In a reply to a note addressed to Rajiv Bajaj, MD, in which Pawar alleged that the management had refused to meet trade union leaders, the company said the union’s charges are baseless.

Last year, Bajaj Auto workers had stopped work, demanding a wage revision. They had also asked for 500 equity shares of the company at a price of ₹1 for each of the members of the union.

Pawar said the workers withdrew their 50-day strike and returned to work on the assurance that the management would talk to them after they restored production. “Workers have achieved over 90 per cent efficiency, but five months have passed, there is still no progress on the wage negotiations,” he said.

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