By IANS,
Chennai: A hunger strike at commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland’s Ennore plant near here has not disrupted production, the company said Monday.
“Around 10 workers went on hunger strike at the plant Saturday protesting transfer of workers from one section to another within the plant. However, production continued without any hindrance,” B.M. Udayakumar, advisor at Ashok Leyland, told IANS.
According to him, some workers were transferred from the chassis division to engine and gear box assembly section.
“Chassis can be made in all our plants whereas engine and gear boxes are made only at Ennore. Further, with production of chassis assembly per day numbering around 85 per day (capacity 125 per day) some workers have to be redeployed,” said Udayakumar.
Ashok Leyland has beefed up the engine and gear box capacity at an outlay of Rs.600 crore.
“The transfer is in line with the wage agreement signed with the workers’ union in 2006,” he added.
Denying that the strike is connected to the ongoing wage talks, he said the wage negotiations are expected to get over soon.
According to workers the earlier agreement ended in 2009 and talks are on since then.
Udayakumar said the Ennore plant has around 4,000 workers and work progressed smoothly on Saturday and Sunday.