Workers Union Raising Unwarranted Demands: Bajaj Auto

New Delhi: Rejecting charges of 'anti-worker activities' levelled by a workers' union, Bajaj Auto on Friday said the union has been raising issues which are "non-existent" and its demands are "unwarranted".

A workers' union, Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana, at Bajaj Auto has called for a two-day hunger strike on January 7 and 8, alleging 'anti-workers activities' by the management.

Terming the demands as "unreasonable and unrelated", Bajaj Auto said that the union has been raising "unwarranted demands" during wage review and "has always been delaying the process".

"The union should not raise the issues which are in fact non-existent and extend full support in growth and development of the company rather than creating unnecessary hindrances in smooth functioning of the company," said Bajaj Auto senior vice president Kailash J Zanzari in a press note.

Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana is demanding reinstatement of the workmen from its Chakan plant, who were dismissed in FY 2013-14 from the services, it added.

In a letter addressed to Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj, Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana had said, "It will undertake a hunger strike at the Shahid Datta Padale statue, opposite Bajaj Auto gate, Akurdi, on January 7-8 against anti workers and anti-union activities of the Bajaj management."

The company's management deliberately transferred the active members of the union and has given false charge sheets and show cause letters to the workers, the letter said.

"Bajaj management adopted a strategy of terrorising and harassing workers. To condemn such anti-union act of management, we have decided to go on hunger strike," the letter issued on January 4 said.

The union claimed that wage review process, which was due with effect from April 1 2016, is yet to be finalised. 

Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana has around 1,000 members at the Chakan and Akurdi plants in Pune of the two-wheeler major.