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The industrial hub of Pantnagar in Uttarakhand is rapidly turning into a hotbed of labour unrest. A series of disputes have been reported across automakers and their component suppliers in the last few months.
Work at Bajaj Auto's supplier of chains and sprockets — L G Balakrishnan & Bros (LGB) — has been stalled for the last three days, with close to 900 workers on strike, sources told Business Line . The dispute is over the recent registration of a new union, after which the management reportedly tried to transfer four workers out to another group plant and suspend the General Secretary.
“After the employees went on strike, the company offered to take back the four employees, but did not re-instate the General Secretary. The workers are protesting outside the Rudrapur District Magistrate's office which is a few kilometres from the plant,” a source said.
The Additional District Magistrate, Ms Nidhi Yadav, is now expected to call a meeting of the LGB management and workers on Thursday.
LGB's troubles follow Bajaj Auto's own. On June 4, some workers at Bajaj's plant in the same region resorted to a partial strike and slow down on wage increase issues. Sources say the Bajaj management has offered to come back with a final settlement on the matter by around June 15.
Other disputes
Tata Motors' supplier of engine components — Amul Auto — is also reportedly facing worker disputes. Other companies in the area dealing with smaller scale labour issues include tyre company, TVS Srichakra, and foundry raw material supplier, Mantri Metallics.
In early April, about 1,200 employees of Rockman Industries and Satyam Auto — component suppliers to Hero MotoCorp's nearby Haridwar plant — faced a similar situation. Workers had gone on strike demanding higher wages.
“Workers are tired of dealing with higher prices and inflation, when the company is making good profits. Recently, Parle Agro also saw a 22 day strike, while a salary dispute at Britannia is on. Settlements were also reached at both Perfetti and Voltas recently,” a source said.
Elsewhere in the auto sector, the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt has seen several such instances of worker agitations, most recently at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant last year (stretched with intervals from June to October). Other such labour strikes in the sector include Hyundai's plant near Chennai and General Motor's plant in Halol, Gujarat.
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