M&M workers' stir over union leader's suspension continues

Around 3,000 workers at automaker Mahindra and Mahindra's manufacturing facility here are on a "tools down" protest against the suspension of a worker, hitting production at the unit, a union leader said."The workers launched the protest last evening after the union general secretary Praveen Shinde was suspended for allegedly stopping production for four hours on Sunday last," M&M Nashik plant union president Shirish Bhavsar told reporters here today.Bhavsar said Shinde along with other union leaders were sitting on a hunger strike in front of the Deputy Labour Commissioner's office since Monday over the issue of salary increment.The Nashik plant management, however, said that Shinde has been suspended pending inquiry for allegedly disrupting production, adding that a meeting between the union and management was to be held today, but the workers resorted to agitation.Bhavsar claimed that the union has decided not to negotiate with the management till Shinde's suspension was revoked.