Kamaz India Plant Paralyzed by Strike

   The Indian plant of the Russian leading truck maker Kamaz has been paralyzed by a strike for over a month

   © RIA Novosti. Vladimir Vyatkin

   13:36 21/02/2012

   NEW DELHI, February 21 (RIA Novosti)

   The Indian plant of the Russian leading truck maker Kamaz has been paralyzed by a strike for over a month, Kamaz Director for India Operations Alexei Agibalov said on Tuesday.

   “A group of individuals started an illegal strike and has blocked our output for over a month,” Agibalov said.

   Kamaz Vectra Motors Limited located in the state of Tamil Nadu in the south of India launched operations at the site of the former Tatra auto plant. When Kamaz started to reequip the plant, local trade unions said that it must hire 32 formerly dismissed workers, a demand fulfilled by the Russian producer, Agibalov said.

   Late last year, the local trade union demanded that Kamaz hire another 15 workers, a demand rejected by the plant’s management, after which trade union members broke into the premises to impede output, he said.

   The action is coordinated by the radical New Democratic Labor Front trade union. Its supporters occupied workshops and put up portraits of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, he said.

   “These individuals have seized the plant and are not allowing us to continue work. The police are not interfering so far as they believe this is the company’s internal dispute,” Agibalov said.

   The Kamaz plant has obtained two local court decisions recognizing the strike as illegal, he said. “We have appealed to the local authorities so that they take measures once and for all,” he said.

http://indrus.in/articles/2012/02/22/kamaz_india_plant_paralyzed_by_strike_14939.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120221/171434526.html

Received from Irina Malenko