Scores of employees of AT & S India held a demonstration to mark the 150th day of protest against their termination from the company, near Nanjangud on Thursday.
The union leaders described their termination as violation of labour laws and sought justice claiming they were on the company rolls for years.
The All India United Trade Union Centre district general secretary Chandrashekar Meti said the employees were dismissed as they had sought legal recourse seeking regularisation of their services, adding that their demand for restoration of services was legal.
Ugra Narasimhe Gowda of Swaraj India said the issue could have been settled only if the government had been more empathetic towards workers who were without job and pay during the pandemic. Activists from Dalit Sangharsh Samiti and other organisations supported the agitating workers.
Meanwhile, the AT & S management has refuted all charges and attributed the allegations against it to “politicised external union leaders and the vested interests’’.
It justified the termination of non-permanent trainees on grounds of misconduct and claimed that the management initiated disciplinary action after an independent third party conducted an internal inquiry.
The matter is currently before the Industrial Tribunal, Mysuru, and the Deputy Labour Commissioner, Region-2 & Conciliation Officer, Bengaluru, and therefore sub-judice, the company added.
