NEW DELHI, OCT 1: After almost a month, the stand-off between Maruti Suzuki India's Manesar management and

workers ended early on Saturday following an agreement brokered by the Haryana Government. The ice was broken when the workers agreed to sign the good conduct bond' and the company agreed to reinstate the 18 dismissed trainees. However, the 44 suspended employees continue to remain so, pending enquiries. It was also agreed that the no work, no pay rule would apply during the strike period. The company assured us that it would reinstate our suspended colleagues if the production goes on smoothly and we meet the targets, a worker told Business Line. However, there was some ambiguity about the good conduct bond'. Workers said the bond had incorporated some of their demands, while the company said not even a full stop has been changed'. Earlier, the bond stated that if workers resorted to go-slow, they would be terminated without enquiry. But, according to the current agreement, there would be an enquiry and workers would have the right to defend their case, Mr D. L Sachdev, General Secretary, AITUC, said. The essential difference incorporated in the bond is that the workers who are liable to be dismissed in case they violate the clauses, will now be governed by the company's Standing Orders, Mr J. P Mann, Deputy Labour Commissioner, said. In the last 30 days, the auto major has incurred a loss of Rs 660 crore. The workers will resume work on Monday and work extra in lieu of October 1, later. NEW DELHI, OCT. 8 : The Haryana Labour and Employment Minister, Mr Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, has expressed disappointment with the striking workers at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant for violating the agreement signed with MSIL. I condemn workers action. They should have respected the terms of the agreement. However, I am hopeful that that the impasse will end by Sunday, Mr Sharma told Business Line. Asked about the employees' demand of taking back casual workers, he said casual workers would be absorbed as soon as work operations at the plant normalise. On October 1, MSIL workers at the Manesar plant agreed to sign an agreement with the management ending over a month of deadlock that began on August 29. According to the agreement, MSI agreed to reinstate 18 suspended trainees but refused to take back 44 regular employees who remained under suspension. The workers, in turn, signed the good conduct bond,' which required them to declare that they would not resort to go slow, intermittent stoppage of work, stay-in-strike, work-to-rule, sabotage or otherwise indulge in any activity, which would hamper the normal production in the factory. A team of Haryana Labour department on Friday met the workers at the Manesar plant and assured them that the remaining casual labourers would be absorbed by October 14 in a phased manner. Close to 2,000 workers at the Manesar plant and 6,000 workers from different factories of the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt (including Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd, Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd ), went on a sit-in-strike yesterday, demanding that their colleagues, both permanent and contract, left out, be reinstated.

Meanwhile a company official close to development said the labour unrest at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant is degenerating into a law and order problem, with workers indulging in violence, attacking co-workers and supervisors and damaging property inside the factory premises. On Saturday, the company was able to rescue as many as 355 contractual workers who were badly beaten up by the striking workers, he said. The workers, however, denied all allegations. We do not trust the management or the labour department. They have been making false promises to us since June and have been adopting a vindictive attitude towards us. For instance, the withdrawal of bus service between Gurgaon and Manesar was their way of revenge, a striking worker told Business Line. When contacted, a company spokesperson said, Yes, we have withdrawn bus facility at Manesar. Running this facility or its withdrawal is a procedural matter. But it cannot justify a strike.

NEW DELHI, OCT. 19: Protest at Maruti Suzukis Manesar plant entered into the 13th day on Wednesday after the tripartite negotiations initiated by the Haryana Labour Department, broke down, late Tuesday evening. Officials of the Haryana Labour Department are presently holding talks with workers of Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) as well as those of Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd (SPIL) and their respective managements. While the company alleged that workers were maintaining an adamant attitude, the workers denied all charges blaming the management for adopting pressure tactics. Mr Shiv Kumar, the Secretary of the unrecognised Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU), said that the second round of talks for the day was scheduled at 6 pm on Tuesday, while their internal inquiry was still going on at Manesar. We can't be at two places at the same time," Mr Kumar said. The company is carrying on with internal disciplinary enquiries against 44 permanent workers who were put under suspension, when the agreement was reached on October 1, following a 33-day long stand-off. The company has charged these workers of indiscipline, abusing supervisors and sabotaging production. The situation remains the same as yesterday. The agitation is continuing, but we will continue partial production at the plant, a company spokesperson said. Maruti Suzuki India rolled out 350 cars from the Manesar plant and 1750 vehicles from its facility at Gurgaon on Tuesday. The production at MSILs Manesar plant had come to a halt, when workers went on a stay-in protest on October 7, demanding reinstatement of 1200 casual workers and 44 permanent workers under suspension, after an agreement was signed on October 1. Workers at SPIL and Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL) had also gone on strike from October 7 in support of their colleagues at Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) and are continuing their stir.

NEW DELHI, SEPT.17: Following the labour unrest at Maruti Suzuki India's Manesar plant, analysts have downgraded their call on MSIL shares from buy' to accumulate'. The lingering labour dispute at the Manesar facility, which has hampered the supply of its Swift and Dzire models, has compounded problems for Maruti already reeling under rising acceptance of diesel versions of Ford Figo, GM Beat, VW Polo and Toyota Etios and Liva. We have lowered our 2012-13 volume estimates by 4 per cent to 1.46 million by factoring in a 200 basis point lower domestic passenger vehicle market share at 43 per cent for MSIL. On the back of prolonged labour-related issues at Manesar and assuming that normal production is restored by October, we have reduced our financial year 2012 estimated volume further by 7 per cent to 1.26 million, Mr Basudeb Banerjee, auto analyst, Quant Capital, told Business Line.
PRODUCTION HIT

The production rate at the Manesar plant has been 500 units assembled a day in the past week against the normal level of 1,250 units. The new Swift has a waiting period of three and six months for petrol and diesel variants, respectively. The 1,000 basis point loss in domestic passenger vehicle market share since May 2011 to the current 35 per cent is a structural one, denting market share by at least 200 basis points in the long run, Mr Banerjee said. Another analyst who did not wished to be named said he expected the market to grow at 9-10 per cent this fiscal, but Maruti to grow at half the rate.
COMPETITORS CLOSING IN

The launch of the diesel version of Toyota Etios and Liva on September 9 has created much buzz in the market, with the combined booking crossing 4,000 in less than a week. The waiting period is 6-8 weeks on average for both models. Etios petrol has already started crossing monthly sales of 4,000 units, directly affecting the growth potential of Dzire. According to the research by Quant Global Research, General Motors is the prime beneficiary of the Maruti losing market share. While there is no waiting period for the petrol models of Beat and Spark (along with cash discount/benefits to the extent of Rs 40,000 this festive season), there is a four-week waiting period for specific colour models of Beat diesel. There is no cash discount on the diesel model but benefits like accessories worth Rs 15,000 are available. There are 1,500 pending orders this month, along with 2,000 enquiries in the past two weeks for the Beat Diesel alone. Although we generally see incremental sales of 15-20 per cent during festive season, this time, due to the slowdown, we are expecting incremental sales of not more than 5 per cent. Nevertheless, for Beat Diesel, we are hopeful of seeing 20 per cent incremental sales, Mr P. Balendran, Vice-President, GM India told Business Line. Demand for the Polo diesel is robust with a waiting period of eight weeks, despite being priced at a Rs 50,000 premium to the Swift diesel model. Cumulative cash discount/benefit of Rs 40,000 for Polo petrol base model is leading to parity in on-road pricing compared to the Swift petrol base model.

Car portal www.carzoo.com has interesting figures to share in terms of enquiries for different cars, between September 1 and 14 . While Chevrolet Beat grossed the maximum enquiries at 1,110, the all new Swift garnered 292 queries. Keywords: Labour unrest, Maruti Suzuki, Manesar