Karnataka bans strike in Toyota car plant near Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Nov 17 : Karnataka on Tuesday banned strike by workers of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) at its Bidadi plant and directed the management to lift the lockout for resuming production soon.
“I have directed the Toyota workers’ union to withdraw its strike and told the company management to lift the week-long lockout declared on November 10 to resume production soon,” state Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan told reporters here.
As the union and its management were in a deadlock over the strike and the lockout following the suspension of 40 workers, Narayan held talks with them at the state secretariat in the city in the presence of state Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar and the state labour commissioner.
“A notification will be issued on Wednesday under section 10 (3) of the Industrial Disputes Act to ban the strike by the workers and to lift the lockout that was imposed to prevent any damage to the factory,” asserted Narayan.
The lockout was declared after 1,200 workers resorted to a sit-in strike in the plant at Bidadi in protest against the suspension of their union member.
As the strike continued, the company declared lockout and suspended 39 more workers on November 13 for refusing to withdraw their ‘illegal’ agitation.