Union woes continue for India’s Maruti

Maruti Suzuki's union woes continue, as workers at the company's diesel engine supplier adopted a go-slow policy to protest the terms of a settlement that ended a recent strike at the factory, the Economic Times reports.

As I reported earlier this week for GlobalPost, Maruti faced crippling strikes this autumn that cost the showpiece of India's liberalization a huge chunk of its profits for the second quarter and sent an ominous signal to other manufacturers.  The fear: India's once-powerful trade unions may be poised for a comeback.

In the latest labor action, workers at Suzuki Power Train Ltd. (SPIL), which supplies engines for Maruti's most popular cars, slowed output to two-thirds of normal production.  The workers are not satisfied with the resolution of a 13-day strike that ended Oct. 19, the Economic Times said, so they are protesting for a further change to the company's payment policies and the reinstatement of three union leaders that the company has refused to take back after the strike.

SPIL is owned 70% by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp and the rest by Maruti Suzuki India.