Strike at Bajaj Auto's Chakan plant deferred

The employee's union of Bajaj Auto's Chakan plant has decided to postpone its planned stoppage of work yet again.

The union, the Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana, had first served a work stoppage notice on April 14 and on April 28 said it had decided to defer the strike until May 15 to give the management "another chance" to negotiate its demands.   

The union is protesting the suspension of 21 workers and termination of employment of two employees. The union had also demanded stock options for employees - 500 equity shares to each worker at a discounted price of Rs 10 a share - but it seems to have given up on it right now.

"We have decided to wait for further directions from the Shramik Ekta Mahasangh. Till such time, we will continue to work," President of the union Dilip Pawar told Business Today.   

Shramik Ekta Mahasangh is an umbrella organisation of many unions in the Chakan region.

Unlike last time when the union said it would go on strike from May 15, the current postponement of stoppage has no date.

The union's plan to get about 850 workers to stop work at the plant was a non-starter from the beginning. The management remained firm that it would not negotiate with the workers. Rajiv Bajaj. Managing Director of Bajaj Auto, called their demands "insane".

When this reporter visited the Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana's office in Pune a few weeks ago, the union members seemed to have already given up. They still grumbled but had little clue about how to keep the protests going. President Dilip Pawar showed a file with about 200 applications of mental harassment filed by workers in the last one year.

One of the workers says he was not allowed to take a toilet break. Pawar next said that the company's management had targeted union members with an aim to break the union. Active members were prevented on the shop floor from rotating jobs - they had to continue doing jobs that required a high degree of physical effort without breaks. Members of the union also blamed the company's middle management for creating mistrust and rued that Rajiv Bajaj never meets them.

The union has now created a "fighting fund" - every worker deposits Rs 500 a month to the fund that goes towards helping suspended and terminated workers. But considering the number of workers suspended, these funds may not last long. It is a losing battle versus the management.  

Bajaj Auto shares closed at Rs 2,040.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 3.10 per cent. The Sensex shed 56.11 points to 23,815.12.