Labor Unrest at Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Private) Limited

With their demands being rejected by the management, the workers tried to form a trade union and this resulted in a confrontation with the management. Fifty workers of the production team were suspended and four others dismissed in May 2005. Apparently there was a show of strength between the management and the workers.

While the management alleged that the workers were resorting to 'go-slow'⁹ tactics and were threatening not to return to work until their colleagues had been reinstated, the workers alleged that the management was using pressure tactics such as victimization of active union members and a 'lock-out'¹⁰ to break the back of the union.

This led to police intervention and a violent tussle ensued between the police and the workers in which workers protesting peacefully were also beaten up.

The police were reported to have overreacted and it was alleged that they had been overzealous in protecting the interests of the HMSI management, even without any direct request from the company's management (Refer to Exhibit I for some images of violence during the HMSI protest).

For companies, the incident brought to the fore the need to maintain sound industrial relations to ensure productive and profitable operations.