Korean Car giant Hyundai: workers work with black flags on

The fasting workers who are working on empty stomach rolled out cars at the Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) in Chennai. The 32 employees who were dismissed are planning to go on indefinite fast outside the plant, said a workers union member Tuesday.

Hyundai Motor India Employees Union (HMIEU), Vice President R. Gunasekaran informed ` for the past 16 days, a majority of the workers do not eat (lunch or any food) or drink anything (tea or coffee) while at work. Wearing black badges, they finish their work and go back home.’ He added on Wednesday 32 of the dismissed workers will begin indefinite fast demanding their reinstatement and also recognition of the union that is truly representative of the workers’

The reason for the current problem at the Indian subsidiary of the South Korean auto maker Hyundai is the reduction of workforce on the assembly line and their redeployment in other works. One worker informed that the number of hands on the assembly line has been reduced which in turn has resulted in increased workload on the remaining workers. The union got a morale booster recently with the Madras High Court ordering the HMIL to reinstate two of the dismissed workers.

However, the management recognized union United Union of Hyundai Employees (UUHE) did not agree with the HMIEU's contention on the workload. The HMIL management had taken into confidence UUHE while chalking out the redeployment.

The redeployment was made after the company started production of new small car Eon. The number of components in Eon is low as compared to other models and hence the management decided to redeploy the work force for their efficient utilization.