Maruti restarts Manesar plant today, union won't stall work

Maruti Suzuki is restarting its Manesar unit, under heavy police bandobast and simmering dissatisfaction of the union over the sacking of 500 workers for their alleged involvement in the clash.

However, the union has no plans to stall the work at the plant, a report in the Business Standard has said.

“We are in discussion with the management for reinstatement of the sacked workers. Our fight is not against the company but against the state government which is investigating the incident,” an office-bearer of the Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union, has been quoted as saying in the report.

The reopening of the plant is likely to halt a flight of customers to the rivals, but their wait for the Swift is unlikely to end soon.

According to a report in Business Line, the market leader in passenger cars is likely to take another fortnight to start producing 1,900 cars a day-the maximum capacity utilisation at the unit.

At present the waiting period for the Swift, one of the company’s most popular models, is 5-6 weeks, the report said.

On Tuesday, the production is likely to be a small 150 cars, the report said.

“We are reopening the plant with 300 workers. With this workforce, we will operate just a single shift from 8 am to 4:30 pm,” Maruti Suzuki India Chief Operating Officer (Administration) SY Siddiqui has been quoted as saying in a PTI report.

Prior to the incident, the plant had a staff strength of 3,300, of which 1,528 were permanent, the report said.

The plant accounted for 45 percent of the company’s production, the BS report said.