Kenneth Rapoza, Contributor

I cover Brazil, Russia, India & China

The Toyota subsidiary in India has decided to shut down two assembly lines on Monday following threats to management from disgruntled workers.

The temporary closure affects 6,400 employees at two factories in south India run by Toyota Kirloskar Motor. The company’s labor union said the shutdown was illegal, according to a report by Agence France Press today.

“Under the instigation of the union, certain sections of the employees have resorted to deliberate stoppages of the production line, abuse and threatening of supervisors thereby continuously disrupting business for the past 25 days. All these unlawful activities have been detailed in the lock-out notice,” Toyota Kirloskar said in a statement on Sunday.

“The company (was) left with no other option but to declare a lockout of the premises to ensure the safety of its workers and management personnel,” it concluded.

Union leaders at the assembly line in Bidadi, a town roughly 30 kilometers outside of Bangalore, said it was going on strike this week anyway due to a break-down on contract negotiations.

“We want the government to immediately intervene in the matter and resolve the issue. We have already submitted a memorandum to the government in this regard,” Toyota Motor Union sources told the Press Trust of India (PTI).

Alleging that the lockout is only for the nearly 4,200 unionized workers at the two facilities, sources said the unions will hold a demonstration in front of the Labor Commissioner’s office in Bangalore on Tuesday.

The union is demanding a wage hike of 4,000 rupee compared to the 3,050 rupees proposed by the management. “We are only asking for the same hike which the management had agreed upon for the 2013 fiscal as well. But what the management is offering us is much below the FY13 level,” union leaders told PTI.

Toyota has been operating in India since 1997. It sold its one millionth vehicle on March 6 in New Delhi. The Bidadi-based assembly plants have been making Corollas since 2002 and the Innova mini-van since 2005. In 2010, Toyota released the entry-level Ethios sedan to compete with the Tata Nano, a low cost, low frills vehicle for lower middle class Indians. It also manufacturers the Camry and Camry hybrid, which Bidadi began in 2012.

The company sells between 10,000 and 12,000 cars in India each month, according to the company.

under the instigation of the union, certain sections of the employees have resorted to deliberate stoppages of the production line, abuse and threatening of supervisors thereby continuously disrupting business for the past 25 days. All these unlawful activities have been detailed in the lock-out notice.

With this background, the Company is left with no other option but to declare a lockout of the premises to ensure the safety of its workers and management personnel.

 

Read more here — http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2014/03/17/disgruntled-workers-cause-shut-down-of-india-toyota-plant/

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