Maruti Suzuki blame-game heights up

Maruti Suzuki India is under a situation of crisis and the problem seems to worsen with time. The striking workers and management of Maruti India are at loggerheads and the blame game is not ceasing at all. Even Haryana Government is stuck in the row and cannot do anything but to sit and watch the show with folded hands as politics is rife on account of by-elections in Hisar, where Anna Hazare has thrown a challenge at the Congress party. The result is so disastrous that not even a single diesel car drove out of their Gurgaon plant on Tuesday. Haryana labour department has flumped a 'breach of settlement notice' on protesting workers at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant on Tuesday and asked them to react within 48 hours. On the other hand workers are accusing the Human Resource Department and its policies tooth and nail.

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The latest trigger for the strike, says Rajesh Kumar, general secretary of Suzuki Power Train India, is the company going back on its word to reinstate 44 employees, who were suspended during last month's strike. Even 1,200 casual workers were not allowed to resume work. Strike at power train facility will affect bulk of the production. Sanjeev Kumar, a permanent employee at Suzuki's power train facility said that the HR policies of the company are meant to put all possible unnecessary conditions and pressures. Even the labour department, which should protect worker’s interests, has failed to do so. Use of foul language by supervisors and cancellation of incentives the moment workers opt for sick or casual leave are some of the allegations by striking employees against management. He also said that employees have been shifted from one department to another, which will result in poor performance and give the company a chance to sack these workers. Workers even went to the extent of stating that even when if any worker went to the toilet, they were regulated in terms of the time spent.

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In case somebody had fever and was a little slow in carrying out the job assigned to him, he was not only treated badly but his performance parameters were downgraded which impacted his monthly salary. Although all this is bringing bad publicity for Maruti India, the management has dismissed the charges as "baseless allegations”. R C Bhargava, the chairman of the company, blames "outside political interference" along with "personal ambitions" of a section of people within the Manesar workforce as the main cause behind the unrest. He said that the sole intention of these miscreants is to hurt the company and its production. The people spearheading this agitation feel that this will catapult them to bigger positions later. He said if there was any concern on the labour front, Maruti workers could have taken it up with the management at any time. But they never did so, rather, they chose to go on strike, without even talking to the company.

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