Wheels India workers at Ranjangaon, Pune in Maharashtra are on strike demanding increased wages, regularization and equal remuneration for contract workers engaged in work of a perennial nature.
Wheels India workers at Ranjangaon, Pune in Maharashtra are on strike demanding increased wages, regularization and equal remuneration for contract workers engaged in work of a perennial nature.
The strike began on March 11, 2011. The workers union had submitted a charter of demands covering all workers, both regular and contract. The strike was called because the management, in violation of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970, has been employing contract workers and trainees on the same assembly lines where regular workers are also working. Wheels India workers are demanding that the company should abide by the statutory provisions of Contract Labour Act. Wheels India unit at Ranjangaon, Pune employs about 159 regular workers and more than 800 contract workers and trainees.
Workers also demand productivity linked compensation. The management has been engaged in anti-union activities by changing the workers' designation so that they cannot engage in collective bargaining and union activities. Workers are demanding an end to this practice.
Wheels India is one of the leading manufacturers of steel wheels for passenger cars, utility vehicles, trucks, buses, agricultural tractors and construction equipments in India. It supplies two thirds of the domestic market requirement and exports 18 per cent of the turnover to North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and South Africa. Its customers include major Indian and international automobile and heavy vehicles manufacturers namely Caterpillar, Komatsu, Volvo, JCB, Hindustan Motors, L&T, Hyundai and Mitsubishi. Apart from Pune, other units of the company are located at Padi and Sriperumbudur in Tamilnadu, Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, Bawal in Haryana and Pant Nagar in Jharkhand.