Labour Disputes Case

Labour Disputes A look at the TKM unrest Introduction Toyota Kirloskar labour secret Limited (TKM) was a joint venture, established in 1997, betwixt Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), Japans largest car company and the second-largest car manufacturer in the world, and the Kirloskar free radical of India. Toyota holds an 89% equity s scoot and while the Kirloskar Group holds the remaining 11%. Toyota has over 400 acres of land in its Bidadi whole kit and caboodle and less than half of the land has been utilised so far charge though its plants capacity is about 60,000 units per annum.Toyota has invested nearly 15 billion INR in the plant. Some of its most famous brands such as Camry, Innova and Corolla be the end products of this plant. The plant had a total constructforce of 2,378 out of which around 1,550 employees belonged to the Employee mating. Toyotas plant has witnessed labour unrest in 2001 and again in 2002 hitting the production of their vehicles leading to a ban of the hook on by the giving medication. Below, we discuss the various reasons, which led to the clashes between the instruction and the employees of TKM.This highlights the growing number of instances of clashes between the employees and the management of companies in India, which is often manoeuvre by immaterial parties such as foxiness unions and political parties. Aim To understand The importance of HR policies adopted by the organization to pr fount moil unrest at the workplace. The role of trade unions, political parties etc in upsetting the work culture in a company. The Issue On January 08, 2006, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (TKM) announced an indefinite lockout of its vehicle manufacturing plant at Bidadi located near Bangalore, Karnataka.The company claimed to suck in forced to resort to such a decision following a continuous strike by their employee union for third day in a row. The Toyota-Kirloskar union affiliated to the Center of Trade Union (CITU) Ja n 9, 2006 demanded that the Government prosecute the management, which had declared an indefinite lockout of the local unit for violating a section of the Industrial dispute act . On January 06, 2006, the Employee Union went on strike with the demand to reinstate three dismissed employees, ten suspended employees, and improve the work condition at the plant.According to company sources, these employees were dismissed and suspended base on disciplinal issues. TKM declared that it would not rehire those employees culminating in the strike and lockout. The company said that the striking workers were threatening to blowup LPG gas cylinders in the company premises, obstructing the external movement of manufactured vehicles, illegally stopping production, and manhandling early(a) workers, who were not part of the Employee Union, to strike.The Employee Union said that these employees were dismissed because they were active members of the trade union and the company was wretched with t he union activities. They further added that the working environment at the plant was not conducive and the work hours were longer than the standard. The issue scaled further in the event of the Company representatives failing to appear before the Labor Commissioner on January 09, 2006 for dispute resolution with the union. The company reasoned that they feared adverse reactions from the aggressive union members.Though, the company appealed for two weeks time to appear before the Labor Commissioner so that situation could become stable, they were interruptn time only till January 12, 2006. The Employee Union with the back up of CITU and other unions demanded the intervention of the state government to help resolve the dispute in their favor. TKM continued with partial production of vehicles with the help of non-unionized workers and the management staff who were specially instruct for these kinds of emergencies.Irrespective of this, the company incurred huge production losses due to reduction in output by 60%. The Employee Union withdrew their strike following a Government Order on January 21, 2006, which was against the strike The Company lifted the lockout on January 21, 2006 stating that it was responding to the request from workers who eager to return to work. Aftermath The unrest had other impacts as the Toyota translator said that the company would rethink its recent decision to build a second car manufacturing plant in the state.These sorts of incidents will definitely hamper the Governments efforts to bring in foreign direct investments to the country. This in turn would affect the growth rate, employability and GDP of the country. Discussion Industrial disputes are costly and prejudicial to companies and employees alike. The policy formulations should be such that it is strong enough to avoid conflicts or resolve it victorfully. Though it is not possible to avoid conflicts, a system digest be built in, which guidelines a proper conflict resolut ion management.In the above case, a proper conflict resolution management system would have solved the issue well within the company rather than involving external parties and escalating the problem thereby resulting in huge production losses & wasted mandates. The HR policies and the top management support should be such as to minimise the chance of a grievance turning into dispute, there by avoiding the influence of external parties in disturbing the peaceful working environment.Either of the parties who participate in a conflict resolution procedure should come with an open mind, without any baggage that hampers the setting. They should be ready to trust each other and believe in the efforts taken by either of them in solving the dispute. The management must give the participating institution its right place in the managerial organisation of the undertaking and implementing the policies of the undertaking. The labour, on the other hand, must also whole heartedly co-operate with t he management done its trade unions.A committee can be formed by the management with the whole hearted co-operation of the workers. The board can involve an equal amount of affaire from the employees as well as the management. The board can meet at a timely interval and discuss grievances before them turning into disputes. Issues related to work hours, remuneration, productivity, etc can have a say in the board meetings. Policies are made for all the areas of an organisation at the top level which give trend for growth, discipline, productivity of an industry or business.These policies act as management guidelines to the functional heads who can discharge their responsibilities with clarity. Policies cover the areas of human relations like policies regarding motivation, morale, communication, leadership, styles, grievance procedure, disciplinary procedure employee counseling etc. These policies also cover the areas of industrial relations like Union recognition, union representati on, collective bargaining, prevention and settlement of industrial disputes, participative management etc . Voices Central trade unions are still relevant, mainly for the unorganised sector.Internal unions should not have a narrow view on this. They should be aware of the problems of their brothers -AITUC national secretary D L Sachdev. An ITI pass-out in TKM gets around Rs 15,000 a month, while outside the company hell only make Rs 4,000 or so. Not salutary the cash, but even in terms of facilities, we offer the best. -K K Swamy, deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor. We have requested the government to intervene in the matter immediately and require the lockout declared by the management which is illegal.The government should prosecute the management for violating labour laws and issue immediate relief to the dismissed employees such as reinstatement and payment of pay during the dismissed period. -Meenakshi Sundaram, General Secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Un ion, Bangalore, in 2006. How long can we put up with unruly behaviour? We would like to restore normalcy as soon as possible, but at the same time, we would not like to compromise on discipline. -A. R Shankar, General Manager, Corporate Planning Division, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited, in 2006. There are another 11 people suspended by the management and we fear they may also be dismissed. We are officially supposed to work for eight hours but we are overworked sometimes. And we are treated in such a way, that we cant even take a bathroom break when we want. -R. Ravi, Union Joint Secretary, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Employees Unions, in 2006. Conclusion While India boasts the best in class labour irrespective of the discolour of the collar, what worries the industry are the regulations in terms of access to this valuable resource.The trade unions are not favouring the demand of the industry to improve labour legislations. While trade unions are of opinion that it would resul t in labour mismanagement, the industry states that the labour reforms are essential considering the frequent situational changes in the business scenario. According to Management experts, the success story of the software industry indicates how far our country can achieve if not restricted by controls. Bibliography Ramanathan, Kalyana. India Is Labour Trouble Resurfacing? 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