Toyota India workers protest

Bangalore, February 6:

Workers at Toyota’s Indian factory launched a protest fast to press demands to have 30 dismissed and suspended colleagues reinstated, after being forced to end a labour strike, a union official said today. The recent labor unrest at the Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd plant — a joint venture between Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp and India’s Kirloskar Group — began with a strike from January 6.

Nearly 1,550 workers of the 2,350 workers at the plant walked off their jobs protest the dismissal of three active union members who were accused of lacking discipline. Two weeks later the state government invoked special powers under a labour law to order the workers back to work.

Toyota’s management made workers sign promises not to resume the strike, and suspended 27 workers who had damaged equipment. The lab-our union wants those 27 wor-kers reinstated, as well as the three who were sacked.