Fresh trouble brewing at Maruti’s Manesar plant?
11 Jul 2011
Maruti Suzuki may be headed for a fresh confrontation with the workers at its Manesar plant, as the newly-formed Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU) has decided to boycott the official union election slated for 16 July.
The company has earlier made it clear that it does not officially recognise the Manesar body – which does not wish to be part of the official union, the Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union (MUKU), based at the company's Gurgaon unit.
The MSEU made it clear during its agitation late last month that it does not accept the official union, which it feels represents only workers at the Gurgaon plant. Ignoring the company management, it has sought direct registration with the Haryana government.
Shiv Kumar, general secretary of MSEU, said on Saturday that workers at Manesar will not participate in the 16 July union election, a decision it has communicated to Maruti's management as well as the labour commissioner of Haryana.
"We will boycott [the election] as we have nothing to do with this process. We feel that it is just an exercise for the Gurgaon plant, and Manesar does not require elections at all since we are the workers representative body here," Kumar said.
Kumar added that most of the workers at the Manesar plant were with the MSEU and there was no question of the MUKU making any inroads into the Manesar plant.