Maruti Suzuki fired 11 employees at its Manesar plant on Monday. These employees were allegedly the “ring leaders” of the strike, which began last Saturday.

The country's largest carmaker is estimated to have lost production of 1,800 units so far (over Saturday and Monday), with about 2,000 of the approximately 3,000 workforce going on strike, several sources told Business Line . Discussions are still on between the management and the employees.

“We are trying to understand why the strike was called without notice. I don't think they (the workers) understand the consequences of an illegal strike. We have terminated the contracts of 11 workers who were the ring leaders. They have to talk to us, there are elections next month where they can express their views,” said Mr R. C. Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki.

A solution to meet the demands of workers was possible, Mr Bhargava said but refrained from stating what they were.

The striking workers are demanding formation of a separate union for the Manesar plant employees, stating that the company has forced/coerced some staff to sign documents agreeing to affiliate themselves with the union at the Gurgaon plant — the Maruti Suzuki Kamgar Union.

In fact, the Manesar workers have already filed an application with the Haryana Government's Labour Bureau at Chandigarh for the formation of an independent union — Maruti Suzuki Employees' Union.

“We have just one demand, that our workers at Manesar should not be forced to affiliate themselves with the Gurgaon union. That is a management-backed union and does not know of the problems at the Manesar plant. That is why we did a two-hour tool down on Saturday,” said a worker on strike.

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