The ongoing strike at the Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) plant in Bidadi near Bengaluru looks set to become a long-drawn battle. The Toyota Motor Employee Union, which represents around 3,500 employees, has alleged regular harassment by the TKM management—claiming that they repeatedly changed production norms without consulting employees first.
In a statement, the union members alleged that their working conditions had become difficult, as management had restricted workers' movements within the factory to such an extent that it was difficult even to go to the bathroom. The management would penalise missing time from work and had even deducted their salary on a pro-rata basis, they claimed. The union also said that, despite repeatedly raising the issue of the increasing workload since July 2019, the TKM management had not done anything to resolve it.
The employees union has also alleged that the management has been time and again increasing the workload of the workers without even conducting a scientific study. It said that this had severely affected the work-life balance of workers. The union said they had a three-year agreement with management in 2016 for the number of working hours and working days. After that, since 2019, the union had repeatedly approached the factory inspectorate and the labour authority to solve this issue—but it remained unresolved.
Unable to bear the harassment any longer, the workers expressed their anguish for a brief while on November 9, 2020, but the matter turned ugly. The TKM management suspended 40 workers including the office bearers and the executive committee members of the employees union. The union members have said that they had not gone on a strike and rather the management had declared a lockout at the plant.
The employee union has pointed out that after the government declared a ban on the lockout and the strike on November 18, the workers wanted to report back to work but were not permitted to do so by the management.
The union pointed out that the management is forcing them to sign an undertaking thereby committing to give the required production and to maintain discipline inside and outside the factory premises. This has resulted in a deadlock as the employees union does not want to do this.
The union wants the revocation of the suspension of the 40 workers and has expressed its desire for negotiations with management. The employees union further alleged that the TKM management had announced a voluntary separation scheme for its employees without its prior consultation.
The ongoing strike has severely affected production at the TKM plant and it is currently rolling out less than 100 units per day against a normal daily capacity of around 450-500 units. Strikes have not been uncommon at TKM ever since the plant started functioning around two decades ago. The last major incident at TKM's Bidadi plant was in 2014 when thousands of TKM employees went on strike for over a month.