Passenger car-maker Toyota Kirloskar Motor has declared a lockout at its two plants in Bidadi near Bengaluru following labour unrest.

A statement from the company said one of the employees who has a systematic record of misconducts was again involved in a breach of discipline and unacceptable behaviour, which is in violation of the law-and-service policy of the company. Accordingly, he was placed under suspension pending enquiry, in line with the company rules and applicable laws. The statement said all possible opportunities will be provided to the employee during the inquiry process.

Sit-in strike

It said the TKM Union has resorted to an illegal sit-in strike, and those team members are unlawfully staying in the company premises and compromising the Covid-19 guidelines, it said. “Due to the current volatile atmosphere and to protect the safety of employees, Toyota Kirloskar Motor is forced to declare a lock-out until further notice. Communication and dialogue with relevant stakeholders are ongoing to try and resolve the issue,” the statement said.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Employees’ Union President, Prasanna Kumar Chekkere, told BusinessLine that workers had sought better working conditions. “The workload is very heavy. We are not given leave even for personal emergencies. We want them to consider our requests on humanitarian grounds,” he said. He also said that over a period of time, some of the employees have been let go or suspended without reason. He said the union has also written to the Labour Department, seeking redressal of their grievances.

Established in 1997, Toyota Kirloskar has two plants in Bidadi. The first one, with a capacity of 1 lakh units, manufactures the multi-purpose Innova car and SUV Fortuner. The second plant has a capacity of 2.1 lakh units, where Toyota Yaris sedan and Camry hybrid luxury cars are manufactured. There are about 6.500 employees on the rolls of Toyota Kirloskar.

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