Gurgaon, November 6
The Manesar unit of Maruti Suzuki, which is trying to limp back to normalcy after the July 18 mayhem, is headed for trouble again as a fresh strike is on its way.

After almost four months of the thaw, the sacked workers of Maruti have regrouped and decided to stage a protest.

With the earlier union Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU) having become defunct after the violence which resulted in the key union leaders finding themselves behind bars, over 500 sacked workers have regrouped and decided to stage protest. They have formed a provisional committee consisting of seven workers who will be leading a 36-hour hunger strike from tomorrow. The workers are being reportedly supported by top trade unions, including their union at the Gurgaon plant.

“Nobody is ready to hear our side of the story. We are also unhappy with the July 18 violence and want a thorough probe into HR manager’s murder as the company’s version is not true. Police is hand in glove with management. If you see the charge sheet, the names of witnesses have not been listed. There is no detail about the nature and the number of injuries suffered by the managers. We refuse to accept SIT report which claimed that we came prepared to kill and there were no outsiders,” said Imaan Khan, one of the members of the provisional committee.

The workers are demanding a CBI probe into the July violence, release of their 149 jailed colleagues (of which 20 are apprentices, 60 contract workers and the rest permanent) and reinstatement of the 546 permanent workers who were sacked.

After the July 18 violence at Manesar, which left an HR executive dead and over 40 injured, Maruti management had sacked over 500 permanent workers.