Toyota shuts down car factory in India indefinitely

BANGALORE, India -- Japanese automaker Toyota Motor

Corp. indefinitely shut down its vehicle factory near

the southern Indian city of Bangalore after workers

went on strike last week to protest the dismissal of

three employees, an executive at the plant said

Monday.

Workers began the strike Friday, demanding the three

dismissed employees of the factory be rehired, said

A.R. Shankar, the general manager of Toyota Kirloskar

Auto Parts Ltd., the joint venture that directly runs

the plant.

The factory, which is 89 percent owned by the Toyota,

rolls out about 70 cars a day, including Toyota's

Innova and Corolla models. India's Kirloskar Group

owns the remainder of the plant.

"We were forced to declare a lockout because the

safety of our officers and machines was threatened by

the striking employees," Shankar told The Associated

Press.

The company and union representing the workers resumed

negotiations Monday afternoon with the state's labor

commissioner mediating the talks, but the two sides

appeared far apart.

A few hundred workers demonstrated outside the local

government's labor welfare office Monday to protest

the lockout.

R. Ravi, the general secretary of the factory's union,

accused the company of the firing the three workers

because they were active in the union.

"For quite some time now, the management has been

victimizing some employees for organizing the labor

and wants to suppress any union activity," he said.

"We want the government to intervene and get the three

employees reinstated. The lockout should be lifted

immediately."

But Shankar said the three workers were "dismissed on

disciplinary grounds." He did not elaborate, but

insisted the workers would not be rehired.

"We hope we will be able to lift the lookout in the

near future, but we really don't know for sure,"

Shankar said. "We don't know which direction the

events are set to take and it is a tense moment for

the company."

With Indians buying about 1 million cars each year,

the nation has emerged as a fast-growing automobile

market. Companies like Ford Motor Co., General Motors

Corp. and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. are

increasing production and launching new models to meet

growing demand.

Toyota has so far invested $350 million in the Indian

subsidiary.

---------------------------------

Were this GM or Ford, probably front page news. But since its Toyota, there's barely any mention of it that I'm aware of.

Great News, America! This is what you're getting yourself into by buying up Toyotas and shunning your own auto industry

Toyota Motor Corp. indefinitely shut down its vehicle factory near

the southern Indian city of Bangalore after workers went on strike

Sounds almost like Walmart

Sounds almost like Walmart

Interestingly enough, I refuse to shop there as well

Edited January 10, 200620 yr by nyscene911

For dismissing 3 employees? LOL. The plant puts out only 70 cars a day, too. Toyota would be better off importing the cars.

I'm curious to here from the other side of the pond so to speak ... for example, I want to know exactly why those 3 workers were fired. If there are legitimate reasons for them being fired, then I don't see what the strike is about. Otherwise it's really strange why Toyota would do that.

Toyota probably already had an eye to remove the factory... 70 cars per day is rather dismal...

For dismissing 3 employees?  LOL.  The plant puts out only 70 cars a day, too.  Toyota would be better off importing the cars.

They olnly have that plant there to hold the illusion that they build cars domestically in India. They pretty much do the same thing here in the US, but just to a greater extent because of logistics.

The plant is back open, by the way.

The plant is back open, by the way.

Naturally, labor is cheap in India and there are plenty of people that can be hired as replacement.

Naturally, labor is cheap in India and there are plenty of people that can be hired as replacement.

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http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...448/1148/AUTO01

"All our employees, even those in management and clerical positions, are trained in production and we are going to use their skills now," Shankar said."

God forbid GM ever does that.

Even though the strike continues, Toyota will open the plant using every available worker not part of the strike.

Sounds to me like Toyota simply did what GM refuses to do.....

....play HARDBALL with the union....