Maruti's Manesar plant resumes partial production, strike on

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The strike at Maruti Suzuki India's (MSI) Manesar plant entered its 11th day on Monday, with workers protesting outside the factory premises, but the company said it has resumed partial production at the plant.

The company also said production at its main plant at Gurgaon has been resumed after a two-day closure last week due to component supply constraints from Suzuki Powertrain India Ptd (SPIL).

In the meantime, the Haryana Labour Department has called for a meeting on Monday of the management and striking workers of MSI, SPIL and Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL) to find a solution.

"Production has started in a limited way at the company’s plant in Manesar. To start with, the weld shop has been made operational," a company spokesperson said.

The company resumed operations at Manesar with some of the trained workers from among those who have refused to join the strike, he added.

The Gurgaon plant has also begun normal operations. Production at this plant will, however, depend on the supply of diesel engines and also transmissions from SPIL, the spokesperson said, adding that MSI models the like M800, Omni, Eeco and Gypsy are not dependent on component supply from SPIL.

There has been no production at MSI's Manesar plant since the workers went on strike in October, while the company had shut the Gurgaon plant on October 14 and 15 as engines and transmissions supply has been severely hit by the strike at SPIL.

The workers of the car-maker have been on strike demanding the reinstatement of about 1,200 casual workers.

They are also demanding that 44 permanent workers who have been suspended after a settlement agreement signed on October 1 to end a 33-day-long standoff are taken back.

Workers at SPIL and SMIPL have also gone on strike in support of their colleagues at MSI's manesar plant workers.

"Workers at the three factories are on strike. We are protesting outside the factory premises as we have vacated the plant last week. We have been called for a meeting by the State Labour Department today," Suzuki Motorcycle India Employees Union President Anil Kumar told PTI.

On Saturday, the striking workers at SPIL and SMIPL vacated factory premises following an order from the Haryana government. A day earlier, workers at MSI's Manesar plant had also vacated the factory that they had occupied since October 7 following an order from the Punbaj and Haryana High Court.

MSI said it has undertaken a thorough check of equipment and machinery since Friday night, when striking workers vacated the factory.

"In the press shop, some parts had been removed from the dies, rendering them non operational. In the weld shop, the wiring cords of robots had been pulled apart."

"About 10 robots had been rendered inoperational. Operational settings of some machines had been tampered with," the spokesperson said.

These have been repaired over the past 48 hours at the Manesar plant and the equipment has been made ready for the limited operations, he added.