The rift between the automakers and their workers is not new in India and has been troubling quite a few major car makers in the country for the past few years. Recently, it is Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), the Japanese auto giant Toyota’s Indian presence that has been having its share of trouble with its workers union.

Though Toyota Kirloskar Motor has lifted up its week long lockout at the twin manufacturing facilities at Bidadi near Bangalore city, its workers refused to enter the plant premises to resume work. The State Labour Minister as well as the Labour Department have been successful in their intervention to handle the issue in a better way which made TKM lift up the lockout. However, the workers are not ready to sign a ‘good conduct’ agreement that is demanded by the company managers in order to ensure that there are no violent unrests in the plants. Thus, the workers are still not going to the factories.

Mr. Prasanna Kumar C., the President of the TKM Workers Union told the media that the demand of the company management that the workers provide an undertaking of good conduct was done in bad faith as well as in bad taste. Kumar added by saying that the company has continued to suspend 17 workers which is a big obstacle in the path of a successful agreement and solving the issue. He clarified that the workers, who were to enter the plants at 6 AM to resume work for the first shift, refused to enter and work as they were asked by the company management to sign the undertaking.

Toyota India announced the lockout of both of its manufacturing facility after the company’s unresolved negotiations with its workers union over the annual wages that has been pending for more than a year now. The rift between the car maker and its workers began when the company was offering a minimum increase of Rs. 3,050 per month for each worker, while the workers union is demanding a wage hike of at least Rs. 4,000 for each worker, as was offered by the company a year ago.

Toyota India’s decision of offering lower wage increase to the workers is a result of the low demands for the carmaker’s products in the domestic market due to the still sluggish market conditions. Toyota is among a huge number of auto makers in India that has been suffering lower sales rates for over a year now due to the market slump.

In the mean time, Toyota Kirloskar Motor is trying to boost its sales rates with launch of two new car models this year. One of these new cars in the Toyota Etios Cross and the other is the all new Corolla sedan. Both the new car models were unveiled at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo.

While the bold and trendy looking compact crossover, the Etios Cross is launching in May, the all new 2014 Corolla will hit the market later this year.

Tagged: Toyota Kirloskar Motor