Toyota issues lockout at its Bangalore plant
The Indian arm of Japanese auto major Toyota has declared a lockout at its Bidadi manufacturing plant in Bangalore from Sunday. Toyota Kirloskar Motor resorted to this step after reports of unrest and deliberate stoppages of the production line for the past 25 days.
The Bidadi facility has an annual production capacity of around 3,10,000 vehicles and produces a wide range of models which include Camry, Corolla, Etios, Innova and Fortuner. The plant is spread across 432 acres just outside Bangalore and employs 6,400 employees.
2013 Toyota in India
The lockout comes after failed negotiations between the management and the workers union which also saw the intervention of the labour department of Karnataka government but to no avail. The talks were going on for the past 10 months to discuss the charter of demands for the year 2013-14.
The workers had also gone on strikes on February 10 and 28 giving a hint to the management about their future course of action if a settlement was not reached. The Bidadi plant is no stranger to labour unrest. A 15-day lockout had taken place in January 2006 regarding dispute over wages.
The company as yet has not commented on their plan of action and how this lockout will affect their overall sales volume. A clearer picture of the lockout will emerge later today. On a separate note, Toyota will be launching the Etios Cross and Corolla Altis facelift in India soon. It remains to be seen if the launch will still be on track or will be delayed.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) Private Limited, Bidadi has declared lock out with effect from 16th March 2014.
| Bangalore, 16th March 2014: The Management and the Union have been discussing the charter of demands for the period FY13-14 for the past 10 months. As bipartite agreement was not reached, the Labor Department of the Government of Karnataka conducted 7 tripartite meetings in order to reach a settlement. The conciliation efforts of the Labor Department have not yet resulted in an agreement. In the meantime, under the instigation of the union, certain sections of the employees have resorted to deliberate stoppages of the production line, abuse and threatening of supervisors thereby continuously disrupting business for the past 25 days. All these unlawful activities have been detailed in the lock-out notice. With this background, the Company is left with no other option but to declare a lockout of the premises to ensure the safety of its workers and management personnel. Overview of TKM Company name Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited Equity participation TMC: 89%, Kirloskar Group: 11% Number of employees Approx. 6,400 + Land area Aprox. 432 acres (approx.1,700,000 m2) Building area 74,000 m2 Total Installed Production capacity Upto 3,10,000 units Overview of TKM 1st Plant Established October 1997 (start of production: December 1999) Location Suburb of Bangalore, Karnataka State Products Innova, Fortuner manufactured in India. Prado, Land Cruiser and Prius imported as CBUs. Installed Production capacity Upto 1,00,000 units Overview of TKM 2nd Plant: Location On the site of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (on the outskirts of Bangalore, Karnataka State) Products Corolla Altis, Etios, Etios Liva, Camry, Camry Hybrid Start of production December 2010 Installed Production capacity Upto 2,10,000 units | |
Starts Rs 41.7 Lakhs
2487cc
Automatic
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