The Karnataka government has ended the four-week long impasse at Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s two plants in Bidadi by prohibiting the lockout and allowing union employees to join work without having to sign an undertaking. The government’s move came after the labour commissioner’s office reported that last week’s conciliatory talks between the management and the union had failed.
?The workers are to be allowed to enter the factory and work without any condition or undertaking from them,? PB Ramamurthy, who holds additional charge as principal secretary of the labour department, told FE.
Toyota had lifted a week-long lockout on March 24, but its workers’ union had complained that a lockout persisted as they were not allowed to join work without each member signing a good conduct undertaking. Toyota had asked for the undertakings as a condition for lifting the lockout, which it had declared on March 16, saying some union members were disrupting work after protracted wage negotiations had proved inconclusive.
?The government of Karnataka, in order to maintain industrial peace and harmony, has issued an order asking the company and the union to restore normalcy in operations immediately,? said a Toyota statement. ?All relevant issues between the workers and the management have been referred for adjudication.?
The issue of the good conduct undertaking has also been referred for adjudication, said Satish R, general secretary of the Toyota Kirloskar Motor Employees’ Union, which has around 4,200 members.
