Wednesday, March 19, 2014
By John Andrew
Toyota Motors wage issue moves in new direction
Workers at Toyota are pressing for the removal of the lockout declared by the Indian unit of Japanese company on Sunday before any talks can begin on wage increases while state government ordered the arbitrator to push for a speedy resolution. After failing to break the impasse between Toyota Kirloskar Motor, or TKM, and the union on Tuesday, the labour department has asked for one last conciliatory meeting on Wednesday failing which it would let the state government take a decision.
"The jurisdictional Deputy Labour Commissioner, Bangalore, will call both management and the union members for a conciliatory meeting to explore an amicable settlement within the ambit of law," Labour Commissioner N Prakash told ET. Among the options the government has are either to endorse the lockout, or declare it illegal and direct the management to reopen the factory. Nonetheless, senior government officials are hopeful that both sides will come to an understanding related to the wage hikes for the financial year 2013-14.
A company statement said: "The lock out continues as of today and we are hopeful that an early solution can be found."
Source: Economic Times.
