Bajaj Auto workers have put off their strike at Chakan, scheduled to begin on Monday, to May 15.
Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj Auto, told Business Line: “I am glad that the union is taking a step back to reflect upon and review their demands which, I believe, are insane and have the support of less than 50 of the 1,350 workmen.
“I fear that if the union does not course correct now, they will face a workforce that is less forgiving of them than even the management.”
Dilip Pawar, President of the VKKS union, which is spearheading the strike, had earlier said that the company continued to harass workers. The union demanded that Bajaj Auto use a part of its CSR outlay for education of workers’ children.
In addition, it wanted the company to allocate the Chakan workforce 500 shares each at ₹10, as was the case during the 2013 strike except the price quoted then was ₹1 per share. The union is also asking for a statue of the founder, Jamnalal Bajaj, to be installed at the plant.
Bajaj Auto has outright rejected the demands for issue of shares and the CSR allocation. “And where have you heard of any statue being installed as part of a strike demand?” an official asked.
On the subject of CSR, Rajiv Bajaj cites the case of the Kamalnayan Bajaj High School (named after his grandfather) located in Chinchwad near Pune. A lion’s share of seats is earmarked for children of the company’s employees. It follows a rigorous admissions policy where barely 70 out of nearly 700 applicants qualify each year.
This year’s list for the school includes seven children whose fathers are at present actively involved in the Chakan plant strike. From Bajaj’s point of view, this by itself proves that the management is not into any “petty vendetta or out to settle scores” with its workers. The company recently offered the Chakan workforce a wage hike of up to ₹10,000 per month.
During last year’s strike, production of the Pulsar was shifted to the plants in Aurangabad and Pantnagar. Of the 22 workers suspended then, Bajaj says nine have since been reinstated after they apologised to the management.
While one of them has “gone back to playing mischief” in tandem with the union, the other 13 workers who indulged in “some degrees of violence” are being investigated by an enquiry committee.