Strike woes haunt Maruti's Manesar plant again. 1 DEAD & Production hit

[invincible7]

Originally Posted by kpzen

Horrible situation in Maruti Manesar Plant.

Sparked off from an argument between an line operator and supervisor has ended up causing huge damage to staff and factory.

HR head burnt alive.
Factory Head smashed with suspension struts, now in ICU.
Quality Head smashed with chairs. Severe head injury.
Couple of Japanese staff injured badly.
All day's production burnt and damaged.
Approx 150 ~ 200 ppl injured and admitted in gurgaon/manesar hospitals.

Most of the top officials cars burnt and damaged in parking lot.

Very sad to hear this, and all this because of altercations.

Is this an automotive unit or playground of goons?

I hope this is resolved once and they are able to find the root cause and clear it for everyone's safety and benefit.

[csateesh]

Originally Posted by kpzen

HR head burnt alive.
Factory Head smashed with suspension struts, now in ICU.
Quality Head smashed with chairs. Severe head injury.
Couple of Japanese staff injured badly.
All day's production burnt and damaged.
Approx 150 ~ 200 ppl injured and admitted in gurgaon/manesar hospitals.

Most of the top officials cars burnt and damaged in parking lot.

It is very unfortunate to read about such acts. Can't believe someone was burnt alive in a factory.

It is extremely unfortunate to read about the current situation. Personal injury isn't the way to move forward.

Hope MSIL solves this with a permanent solution

[Hurrycane12]

Strike can be peaceful; why kill someone? Sad to hear about the GM HR burnt alive.

Wish union leaders become mature to handle crisis situation and avoid violence. The major losers are the workers in a strike. The leaders have the money to pull through but the families of workers who suffer.

[sanagg1]

Originally Posted by kpzen

Horrible situation in Maruti Manesar Plant.

Sparked off from an argument between an line operator and supervisor has ended up causing huge damage to staff and factory.

HR head burnt alive.
Factory Head smashed with suspension struts, now in ICU.
Quality Head smashed with chairs. Severe head injury.
Couple of Japanese staff injured badly.
All day's production burnt and damaged.
Approx 150 ~ 200 ppl injured and admitted in gurgaon/manesar hospitals.

Most of the top officials cars burnt and damaged in parking lot.

This seems like a classic MBA "Case Study" set in 80's.
Similar cases are taught to all HR Managers across world on how to resolve "Conflict".
It is beyond imagination to comprehend it as reality in 2012.

[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by jesrani

One of the issues is of wages. What exactly are the workers wages in MSIL? Compared to other industries around them, are the wages so low that workers resort to such tactics.

As quoted in first post .

Maruti strife: Management is out of sync with its workers | Firstpost

To be fair to the company, it pays workers a decent wage and offers them facilities on par with those in any surrounding factory. The new workers’ union, which has been registered after consent from the management, has itself acknowledged that a permanent worker at Manesar receives a total remuneration of around Rs 18,000 every month that includes an incentive of about Rs 8,000. A Mint story in April said a casual worker gets Rs 7,000. The plant has around 3,000 workers, of which 900 are permanent. With Rs 18,000 a month as salary and Maruti Suzuki’s shopfloor experience on his resume what else does a 28-year semi-literate from the rural belt of Haryana aspire for?

So a Permanent workers get a salary of 10000 + 8000 as Incentive. clearly incentive will not be there if he falls ill . So 10 K it is.

where as a temp worker gets some where 7 -8 K per month. is it enough for a decent living ?? quite possible yes, if one takes into account Our govt, s thinking that one need just 39 rupees per day to live happily .

[am1m]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

In Japan, Strike means over production. workers work 24x7 till their demand is not met . we all know how it works in india.

I'm sorry, but what?! Any source for this fact? The only reference to this I could find online was that this was an urban legend and not true.

[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by am1m

I'm sorry, but what?! Any source for this fact? The only reference to this I could find online was that this was an urban legend and not true.

Quite possible a legend but found below . The article dates back to 1981 though . In modern times, quite possible that they have changed now .

Source :- Sunday Observer - A Better Column By Russell Baker Patrick McDonnell The editor has imported a Japanese newspaper columnist. Apparently I am not cost-efficient. The editor has not said it in so many words, but the calligraphy is on the wall. Suddenly

''Americans quit working when they go on strike?'' he asked. ''Why do you think we call it a 'job action'? Because there's no action on the job. Don't you have job actions in Japan?'' ''In Japan,'' he said, ''we have what I suppose you Americans would call 'job inactions.' When we strike, we put on armbands to show we are unhappy and we go into the plant and work twice as hard as usual to prove to the bosses how valuable we are.''

[am1m]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

Source :- Sunday Observer - A Better Column By Russell Baker Patrick McDonnell The editor has imported a Japanese newspaper columnist. Apparently I am not cost-efficient. The editor has not said it in so many words, but the calligraphy is on the wall. Suddenly

Don't want to go more OT, but I believe that column was meant to be satire, not meant to be taken literally.

Speaking generally, and certainly not intending to highlight anyone's posts, we may at times tend to comment about issues without knowing all the facts, this makes a difference especially in sensitive issues like this one. Always good to cross-verify facts and check for possible biases before posting, in the interests of driving a fact-based discussion.

[Mpower]

This is terrible news. Reminds me of that incident in Graziano India where the workers beat up the CEO and killed him? IIRC it was also located in NCR area

[hrman]

Originally Posted by Meer

This unfortunate incident may have its reasons (media reported "casteist" remarks), but we need to understand that this is a spark which lit the fire, the fuel was always there, this cannot be an isolated incident. The worry is that this has come at a bad time for India Inc, when the general perception about Indian economic climate is so bad, this is only making it worse :(

Agree with you. Its definitely not come at the right time and is the wrong message for investors at a time when we are looking at another recession.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

I may be sympathetic or not but am totally aghast at and condemn outright the violence and possibly murder. Why did they not strike work in a peaceful manner?

+1 to you too sir. Violence and damage to property is not justifiable under any circumstances.

Other than this, I am also worried that a few months down the line, some of the damaged vehicles would be repaired and sold off as new vehicles to the unsuspecting customer. Will MSIL give a statement of how many vehicles were damaged and what are its plans to dispose off the damaged vehicles?
How many of the recently purchased Dzires or Swifts have not been sabotaged or safety been compromised? No one will ever know.

I recall an incident in which former employees of the Graziano Transmissioni attacked and killed their chief executive in Greater Noida.
Almost year later, the VP-HR of Pricol at Coimbatore was killed by some workers over a labour dispute.
So this is surely not restricted to any part of India. There is an immediate need to re-look at all labour laws and have more conducive environments for workers to deliver.
But will the government do anything about this?

[kvish]

Its high time that someone acts on this. This is not a strike, this is sheer lawlessness!
A month after it gets resolved, I am sure we get another news item that quality of some of the cars was compromised :(

[GTO]

Maruti releases a statement:

We are deeply disturbed by the mob violence and arson at our Manesar
Plant on Wednesday evening. Several executives, managers and supervisors
were brutally attacked and injured, and nearly 100 of them had to be
hospitalised.

We have also lost Awanish Kumar Dev, General Manager (HR) at Manesar
Plant, who was burnt to death by the mob. Awanish was an outstanding
professional and team member, compassionate, soft spoken and deeply
committed to cordial industrial relations. In the past year, he had been
instrumental in the Company taking far-reaching steps to enhance the
well being and working conditions of workers at the Manesar Plant.

We are still assessing the total damage to property and facilities from
the acts of arson. What is clear is that the office facilities have been
burnt beyond repair, as have the main gate, security office and the fire
safety section.

Both our plants in the Manesar campus were, of course, closed on
Thursday. We will shortly announce our decision on the next steps with
regard to resuming operations in these facilities. We request our
customers and partners to bear with us in this extraordinary situation.

The top management team visited the injured colleagues in the hospitals
in Gurgaon where they are admitted. Their experiences are shocking. A
few of our colleagues remain serious. While the rest are recovering from
the physical injuries, it will take them a while to come out of the
trauma. The injured include two Japanese expatriates, including the
plant manager of the Manesar Plant.

Sequence of the violence

The workers' union was demanding reinstatement of a worker who had been
suspended for beating up a supervisor. While negotiations were on with
the senior management, the first act of violence by the mob was to
forcibly shut the main gate and prevent managers from leaving the
premises after working hours.

Thereafter, armed with iron rods and door beams of cars, the mob spread
out in groups in the factory area and targeted supervisors, managers and
executives. In simultaneous attacks in different parts of the factory,
the mob beat the managers on their head, legs and back, rendering many
of their victims bleeding and unconscious. They also ransacked offices,
broke glass panes and wantonly damaged property. Finally, they set the
offices on fire.

After being terrorized, abused and attacked in this manner by the mob,
recovery for the injured will not be easy. We will ensure they continue
to receive quality medical attention, and are extending whatever support
is possible to the families as well.

By any account, this is not an "industrial relations" problem in the
nature of management-worker differences over issues of wages or working
conditions. Rather, it is an orchestrated act of mob violence at a time
when operations had been normal over the past many months.

Such acts of violence - pre planned, unprovoked and gruesome - have
implications beyond one company or region. They are negative trigger for
existing companies and regions across the country, as also for
prospective investors and job seekers.

We are extending full cooperation to the police and government
authorities in identifying the guilty and taking suitable action.

[RX135]

I'll not be surprised at all, if Maruti shuts down this plant and shifts elsewhere. Either it was orchestrated violence or there was terrible suppression of workers, which exploded on this occasion.

[Mpower]

Shocking !!

Clearly this is not related to that 1 incident but the hatred and distrust has been simmering over many months and probably many years.

That incident was just the trigger point.

[SkyWalker]

This is terrible. My sympathies with Maruti & their management. I hope for speedy action and severe punishment for the people who are responsible.