StriA ten-day strike by the employees' union has caused a revenue loss of Rs 30 lakh per day to Bosch's Sitapura factory, 20 km from Jaipur
JAIPUR: A ten-day strike by the employees' union has caused a revenue loss of Rs 30 lakh per day to Bosch's Sitapura factory, 20 km from Jaipur, despite the management gearing up to meet production schedules with the help of its supervisory and managerial staff.
The strike by the Mico-Bosch Labour Union is unjustified as the management from day one said that no permanent employee had been retrenched, Vice-President Ashok Abraham and DGM (Corporate Communication) Sanjay Chakravarty told a joint
press conference here on Wednesday.
"There is a misconception that trainees were retrenched. Actually 68 apprentices completed 2 years' training, while 150 apprentices' training period was discontinued due to low production demand of VE pumps.
"Bosch never promised in writing even at the time of appointment of absorbing them in regular services after the completion of the training period," Abraham said.
"Due to low production of VE pumps, about 300 per day as against 1,750, when the unit was in operation before the strike, there would be no apprentice appointments in the near future," Abraham said, adding the loss has been Rs 30 lakh a day.
"There has been no anomaly in the pay structure and minimum labour wages as all labour laws are being followed strictly," he added.
"Union leaders might not want to understand the bilateral agreements on the wages," Abraham said.
"We are holding meetings with the Joint Labour Commissioner to find a fast and amicable solution with the union leaders ... there is one such crucial meeting with the JLC on November 20," Chakravarty said.
"The company would not go for any additional financial burden but wants to agree up to a point on running the factory successfully," the duo said, adding, "if the situation is not favourable the management has told the union leaders it will close down the Jaipur plant".
Abraham said, "Before the employees went on the sudden strike, the management had assured absorbing 67 apprentices but they were adamant on their 'unjustified demand', leading to illegal strike."
Germany-based Bosch Group, a leading global supplier of technologies and services in automotives and industrial tech, used to have 2,000 VE pumps (diesel engines) every day before the strike, and during the production came down to 300 per day, said Abraham, who is managing the Sitapura unit.
Bosch was also having trouble with consumers, who wanted a full supply of pumps, he said.
The indefinite strike call by the Mico Bosch Labour Union (MBLU) comes at a time when the automobile component manufacturing industry is going through a very uncertain phase and demand for products showed significant decline, Abraham said.
When contacted a spokesman of the MBLU said that the last meeting with the management in the labour commissioner's office on November 16 was inconclusive as there was no solution offered by the management to absorb the 187 trainees who were either discontinued, or retrenched or sacked.
The union was demanding a cash benefit on account of the conversion of Mico into Bosch, and a salary revision to attain parity with the workmen of other plants of the company in India, the spokesman said.
AITUC General Secretary D K Changani said the company was also not revising minimum wages for employees and violating labour rules on minimum wages to skilled labourers despite the state government having revised them long back.
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