After Maruti Suzuki; Honda Motorcycle, Hero MotoCorp negotiate wage pact

After Maruti Suzuki signing wage revision agreement with its workers at its three plants other major automobile companies including Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, and several other auto ancillary companies are also in negotiations with their respective labour unions for wage revision agreements in the Gurgaon-Manesar manufacturing belt.

Most of these companies follow the cycle of revision once every three years and the last revision was done in 2012. Wages of over 5,000 permanent workers and almost double number of contractual and temporary workers in various companies in the region will be determined in the wage agreement for the next three years.

According to labour union leaders, Hero MotoCorp’s Dharuhera plant workers got a wage revision in 2014 and the Gurgaon plant workers had last signed a three year agreement in 2012. The Gurgaon plant workers had got an average salary increase of R9,000 spread over three years. The Dharuhera workers, in 2014, got an average raise of R11,000. The Gurgaon plant employs close to 1,300 permanent workers and around 2,200 temporary workers.

Normally the temporary and contractual workers are given a hike every year. For instance, temporary workers at Hero MotoCorp’s Dharuhera plant are given a hike in the range of R3,500 to 5,000 each year for four years, after which they are regularised. The contractual workers in the same plant are given a raise of R1,000 every year, according to labour union leaders.

For Honda Motorcycle and Scooter, the workers at its Manesar plant had got an average hike of R14,700, spread over three years. The plant has around 1,800 permanent and close to 4,000 temporary workers. Some other auto ancillary companies in the region, which also employ significant number of workers are also discussing wage negotiations with the unions. The companies currently negotiating wage agreements include GKN, FCC India and JCB, among others.

Apart from the an increase in the fixed salaries, unions of various companies have also demanded other benefits from their employers. Most prominent among the demands from the workers include housing facilities, better welfare schemes like insurance and pensions and transportation.

The workers of Sona Koyo Steering Systems, a leading auto ancillary company, also signed a revised wage agreement recently getting an average salary increase of R13,915 spread over three years, labour union leaders said. The peaceful negotiations completed by Maruti could also have a positive impact on negotiations of other companies.

Apart from the unrest at the Maruti Manesar plant in 2012 which resulted in the loss of life of an HR executive and a lock down of the plant resulting loss of production, the Gurgaon-Manesar belt has a history of labour troubles. In 2009, workers from many companies jointly went on a strike protesting against the death of a striking worker at a company.