1 October, 2015A new wage agreement covering only permanent employees has been reached at Maruti Suzuki plants in India. Having been left out of the agreement, temporary workers raised their voices at the gates at the Manesar plant only to see a violent end to their peaceful demonstration.
The agreement between Maruti Suzuki management and unions at the three plants in India does not cover wages of temporary workers, or the workers dismissed in 2012.
The more than 3,000 temporary workers at the Manesar plant had been demanding wages at par with permanent workers, and rallied at the plant gates to show their discontent.
Police responded by violently breaking up the demonstrators. Several workers were injured and arrested. Some of the arrested workers have since been released on bail.
IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary Fernando Lopes says
This level of violence is wholly unacceptable. IndustriALL condems the brutal acts of the police, clearly supporting company management. We call for a peaceful resolution of all labour issues at Maruti Suzuki, including the temporary workers.