Another strike brewing at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant

Fears of another protest strike gripped Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant as unions backing sacked workers planned a hunger strike after a round of peaceful protests. The workers are now being supported by the company's employees at its Gurgaon plant.

The Manesar union had settled for some of the biggest wage hikes and the Gurgaon union is now demanding that the 548 workers sacked by the management for the violent strikes in which an official of the carmaker's HRD department at the Manesar facility was killed, be taken back (See: One dead, 85 injured in violence at Maruti's Manesar plant).

The strike threat comes barely two months after the Manesar plant returned to full production capacity with the commencement of second shift operations.

Maruti Suzuki also ramped up both sales and production with the launch of it reengineered Alto 800 small car that has become an instant hit in the market.

Leaders of the defunct Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU), which has been derecognised in the wake of violence at the plant, is reported to be trying to regroup workers at the Manesar plant, repots said.

While Maruti Suzuki officials dismissed any impact of the protests outside the factory, they also confirmed that former employees of the company are leading the protest and that they are being supported by workers' union at its Gurgaon plant.