Automobile manufacturers have backup plans in place for everything ranging from rising cost of input to increasing fuel prices but labour unrest, especially in India, is a tough adversary to overcome. An exact indication of this would be the labour problem that is currently in place at Hero MotoCorp’s manufacturing unit in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. Harish Chandra Durgapal, the labour minister of Uttarakhand, spoke about this issue in the State Assembly.
“There is a protest going on at Hero group’s Haridwar plant. But the state labour department is trying to resolve the issue by holding talks with these workers and the management,” Durgapal was quoted as saying. More than a year back, the workers at the Haridwar plant stopped work in order to demand the reinstatement of an employee who was suspended by the management. The company worked towards the issue, resolved it, but in the process, suspended 38 workers for partaking in the strike. Albeit 11 of those workers were taken back but 27 still remain suspended, which has haunted the firm gravely.
Hero MotoCorp’s unit in Haridwar is quite crucial for the firm as it is the largest facility and the centre for production of bestsellers including Splendor and Passion. Additionally, around 5000 workers are employed at the Haridwar plant and around 600 of them are on Hero MotoCorp’s payroll. Hero MotoCorp is not the only company that has suffered from labour unrest in recent times. Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto have suffered severely from employee strikes, leading to direct loss of revenue.
