Day after CEO’s death, company is firm: it’s ‘partial lockout’

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Pragya KaushikaPosted: Sep 24, 2008 at 0009 hrs IST

Greater Noida, September 23 The dispute between the management and labourers, which left Graziano Transmissioni (India) CEO L K Choudhury dead on Monday, began in the last week of November 2007, company officials said.

A company statement issued today stated that it was enforcing a partial lockout against the striking workers.

The police claimed a “small dispute” between the management and one of the employee representatives snowballed into a major crisis as workers thought the employee was being attacked.

Company officials said that some 350 disgruntled employees staged the first sit-in strike last November. They were protesting dismissal of some fellow labourers.

That was the first time the factory in Greater Noida was locked out, “partially, for a few days,” Graziano India’s personnel manager L K Gupta said. “But we struck a settlement with them (labourers) within three days.”

This January, Gupta said, the workers joined All India Trade Union Congress(AITUC) and sent a list of demands, Gupta said: “The union demanded a salary hike of Rs 7,000 per month. This meant a huge financial burden on the company.”

Gupta said the management and the workers finally settled on a monthly hike of Rs 3,000 on a three-year contract, “with conditions attached.” He said, “We asked them that they would not create any nuisance and would abide by the company’s law and decision.” But the union, Gupta said, later refused to abide by the agreement.

Meanwhile, the labourers disputed company officials’ claim that Monday’s attack was a planned one. “No one (in the management, or among officials) was ready to hear our case, not even the Labour Commission,” Rajendra Singh, one of the labourers who were injured in yesterday’s clash, said.

According to Singh, yesterday (September 22) was the last day of submitting the request letter to reinstate dismissed workers. “We went inside but the security guards misbehaved with us,” he said.

This acted as the trigger, police officials said, for other workers to barge in.

Deputy Labour Commissioner B K Singh said the company recruited around 400 contract employees in January, and the workers soon started demanding permanent status. “In a meeting on September 16 the management agreed to reinstate all dismissed employees, barring 15 who were terminated for grave indiscipline and misconduct,” he said.

But the employees, B K Singh said, kept up their demand: reinstatement of all employees. At this point the company increased salary by Rs 2,000, with incentive of another Rs 1,000 per month, Singh said.

137 workers held for company CEO’s death

A Noida court today sent 63 employees to Dasna Jail on charges of murdering L K Choudhary. Another 74 have been sent to prison on charges of rioting, assault and unlawful assembly. “Initially we filed FIR against 19 workers and have sent 137 dismissed employees to the court. They have been sent to Dasna Jail on 14 days of judicial remand,” SP (Rural) Babu Ram, transferred later in the day, said.

SP (Rural) moved out

A day after the fatal fracas at Graziano Transmissioni, SP (Rural) Babu Ram was today transferred to Bulandshehr. SSP R K Chaturvedi said Monday’s incident was one of the reasons that led to the transfer. Bulandshehr’s Superintendent of Police Surendra Verma would take over from Ram, it was announced.