5 things Maruti has agreed to in reopening Manesar

New Delhi: Just a day before Suzuki Motor Chairman Osamu Suzuki arrives on a week-long visit to India, Maruti Suzuki India has decided to lift the lockout at Manesar in Haryana. Will Suzuki meet workers and managers at the plant which saw a deadly riot?

Also, it seems clear that the Maruti management has moved substantially to meet some of its workers’ demands in the process.

Here are 5 things Maruti has promised to workers after lifting lockout:

# 1: An unprecedented security cover for them which begins at their homes and stays with them throughout their workday. So 500 Rapid Action Force armed personnel from state government will guard the factory inside and outside; 40 personal security officers will accompany workers to and from their homes; 100 of Maruti’s own security officers (also armed) who will stay inside the factory at all times

# 2: Contract workers will be given a chance for regular employment and screening tests will begin from 2 September.

# 3: The 500 permanent workers who are being sacked will be given three months’ pay plus 15 days’ pay for every completed year of service as severance pay.

# 4: Maruti will not press for derecognition for the union despite all its office bearers being jailed by the Haryana police. The company will let the state government take a call on this

# 5: Though only 300 workers will be called in to begin production initially, all permanent workers will begin getting their salaries from 21 August even if they are not called to work. Also, July wages till the 18th are being paid.