Toyota declares lockout at Bidadi as labour trouble lingers

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has declared lockout at its two manufacturing plants at Bidadi near Bangalore, following the failure of talks between its management and the workers' union over wage negotiations.

The production at the two plants, having an installed capacity of 3,10,000 units, has been disrupted from last 25 days.

"The management and the union have been discussing the charter of demands for the period FY14 for the past 10 months. As a bipartite agreement was not reached, the Karnataka Labour Department has conducted seven tripartite meetings to reach a settlement," the Japanese auto major said in a statement.

"But the conciliation efforts have not yet resulted in an agreement, leading to the lockout."

It also said even as the talks were on, instigated by the union, a section of the workers has resorted to deliberate stoppage of the production line and threatened supervisors and continuously disrupted business for the past 25 days.

"In this background, the company is left with no other option but to declare a lockout to ensure the safety of its workers and management personnel," it noted.

The union, however, could not be contacted.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor is an 89:11 joint venture between Toyota, the world's largest auto company, and the Pune-based Kirloskar Group.

Set up in October 1997, the two plants at Bidadi employ over 6,400 people and have an installed capacity of 3,10,000 units per annum. Toyota rolled out the first car from the Bangalore suburb in December 1999.

While the first facility has an installed capacity of 1,00,000 units, the second plant has an installed capacity of 2,10,000 units.

The two plants are set up on a sprawling 432 acre land parcel in Bidadi.

The company manufactures the MPV segment leader Innova and the SUV Fortuner from the first plant since October 1999, while it has also been rolling out the sedans Corolla Altis, Etios, the hatchback Etios Liva, and the luxury sedans Camry and Camry Hybrid from the second plant since December 2010.

The company also sells the premium SUV brands Prado, Land Cruiser, and the hybrid sedan Prius as completely built-up units.