Following the State government ordering payment of interim relief, workers of Tata Marcopolo Motors Limited, who were on an indefinite strike for the last 49 days, temporarily called off their strike on Saturday.
Over 1,240 permanent workers had launched the indefinite agitation protesting against the company’s management not revising the pay scales. They had said that the company had not revised the scales for over 25 months and had sought the government’s intervention.
The workers’ union, which had negotiated on behalf of the workers, said that the company had put a rider that pay scales would be revised only if the workers reached the production target set by the company, to which they had not agreed.
The workers had said that as it was impossible to reach the target, they had conveyed to the management that were ready to ensure production which was scientifically feasible. However the management had not agreed to their proposal.
Subsequently with the intervention of the Labour Officer, the matter has now been referred to the Industrial Tribunal for adjudication and the company has been asked to pay an interim relief of ₹6,000 to every worker.
Addressing the protesting workers on Saturday, president of TUCI Central Committee Amarish Patil announced that although the workers were not fully satisfied by the outcome, they would welcome the decision on payment of interim relief and would temporarily suspend the indefinite strike for the sake of seeking complete justice in the coming days.
Central Committee secretary of TUCI Aravind Nair, State vice-president K.B. Gonal addressed the workers and explained the next course of action to be followed after suspending the strike. A resolution to thank all those who were involved in the protest and those who expressed solidarity with them was also passed on the occasion.
