Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has denied revision of wages to its around 1,900 permanent workers at the Manesar plant until next year, citing the slowdown in vehicle demand and falling revenues as the primary reason, two people aware of the development said.
The last wage revision happened in August 2015, under which the permanent staff got a salary hike of Rs 23,300 each over a period of three years. The next hike was supposed to happen in August 2018, but the workers’ union members maintain that the management deferred it on account of falling two-wheeler sales and higher marketing expenses.
“So far since August 2018, the discussions on salary hike were on. However, the company has now indicated that it won’t happen until the second half of next year when the demand is expected to improve,” a union member told to media.
The permanent workers union has so far not decided against a strike or any other agitation path, he added.
The wage revision is part of a regular exercise undertaken by auto companies once in three years. With the revision, the workers would have received a salary hike of around Rs 25,000 each over the next three years, the union member said.
An HMSI spokesperson said, while the Manesar plant has the highest monthly cost-to-company (CTC) in the industrial belt, manpower efficiency and productivity in the plant were the lowest among all the company’s plants.
“Manesar plant management started the discussion of the wage in 2018. Despite the overall economic slowdown and production realignment, plant management offered a significant hike with the expectation of increased manpower efficiency and discipline. Post this, an average worker’s CTC would cross Rs 1 lakh per month,” the spokesperson added.
“But unfortunately, some workers are dragging the wage settlement discussion to further their personal agendas, and are instigating labour unrest in the region,” the spokesperson further said.
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