Chennai: The Royal Enfield employees resumed their agitation on Monday after the management laid down a rule forbidding workers to carry mobile phones inside the factory.
Sources within the Employees’ Union said that the workers couldn’t resume their duties on Sunday since the permanent employees were asked to deposit their mobile phones at the security office before entering the factory at Oragadam, which is about 45 km from here.
"We have been allowed with mobile phones for last five years,” Working People Trade Union Council and Royal Enfield Employees' Union Vice-President R Sampath said. “The condition by the management was not acceptable to us and from today we are resuming our protest.”
The Royal Enfield plant officials couldn’t be contacted to confirm the workers' claim.
There was a higher turnout of protestors today than before, he said. About 4,000 out of the total workforce of 6,000 employees were participating in the strike, which began on September 24 over non-confirmation of trainees on probation.
Royal Enfield, in a statement to the exchanges, said that the strike has affected its production and that the company has suffered a loss of over 10,000 units.
The factory, however, had said in a petition to the Madras High Court that it does not recognise the Royal Enfield employees union participating in the strike. After a four-day strike, the unions called it off based on an advisory letter from the state labour department. It remains to be seen on what the next course of action will be for the union on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, employees of India Yamaha Motor and Myoung Shin Automotive India in Oragadam belt, where a number of auto makers' factories are located, continued their strike Monday.
Nearly 700 workers in Yamaha staged sit-in protests in campus till September 26. The standoff at Yamaha intensified when the situation reached a deadlock after two workers were dismissed following their enthusiastic efforts to get their labour union registered.
The employees of India Yamaha, subsidiary of Japan-headquartered Yamaha Motor Corporation, are on strike since September 21 seeking reinstatement of dismissed employees while the MSI employees, who took to the protest a day later, are seeking recognition of their union.
With PTI inputs
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