New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) Automobile major Maruti Suzuki said manufacturing had resumed at its Manesar plant from early Tuesday afternoon after being suspended Monday due to labour problems.
‘Early this afternoon, the company commenced operations in areas like weld shop, press shop and paint shop,’ the company said in a statement.
According to the statement, the company suspended 16 more regular workers, apart from terminating the services of 12 technician trainees.
The action follows the company’s decision on Monday to suspend and dismiss 21 employees on charges of sabotaging the production and causing quality problems in the vehicles manufactured at the plant.
‘The company has asked all workers to sign a good conduct bond. This bond would be signed by around 950 permanent employees. Around 36 workers have already signed the contract,’ a senior company official told IANS.
The official added that measures like deputing work-force from other plants to the Manesar one and starting a process to recruit new employees on a consultant basis has also been initiated.
‘We have identified around 200 experienced manpower for various positions in the plant. Our human resources (HR) department is speeding up the recruitment process, so that we will have adequate work-force all the time,’ the official said.
The company’s facility at Manesar produces its bestseller hatchbacks and sedans like the Swift, Swift Dzire, A-Star and SX4. The majority of the automobile giant’s production takes place at its remaining three plants in Gurgaon district.
The company further said that around 50 diploma engineers from the company’s Gurgaon plant were also deputed in Manesar and the day’s operations were focused on the automatic manufacturing units of the plant.
‘The operations today were mostly focused in high automation areas of the plant. Teams spent a lot of time streamlining processes and strengthening quality production systems,’ the statement said.
Earlier the workers at the same plant had called a 13-day long strike for formation of a new union. The strike had started on June 4 and cost Maruti Suzuki a production loss of around 12,600 cars, pegged at a value of Rs.380 crore.
The Japanese automobile giant Suzuki Motor Corporation-promoted company has the largest chunk of India’s domestic car market with sales of 12,71,005 vehicles during fiscal 2010-11 including exports of 1,38,266 units.
