Bangalore: A majority of the workers at the Bidadi plant of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited returned to work on Tuesday ending a 16-day strike during which they protested the dismissal of three employees on disciplinary grounds.

On January 21, the Government issued an order prohibiting the strike and referred issues between the two sides to the additional labour court for adjudication after two rounds of conciliatory meetings convened by the Labour Commissioner failed to resolve the dispute. The company lifted the 13-day lockout on January 21.

The unions, however, claimed that they succeeded in getting the management to modify the good conduct declaration format before signing it and resuming work. While lifting the lockout, the management stipulated that the workers sign such an undertaking.

"We went to the factory gates today in company vehicles and suggested that the management change the good conduct declaration format since we were not in agreement with some of the clauses. This was agreed to by the management. Then, we convinced workers to sign the modified declaration format and report for duty," R. Ravi, Joint Secretary, TKM Employees' Union, told The Hindu .

Mr. Ravi said that about 900 unionised workers resumed work after signing the undertaking, and 300 more are expected to join duty on Wednesday.

Shifts to resume

The Bidadi plant is expected to resume normal working shifts in a day or two. "We look forward to resuming normal production as soon as possible," A.R. Shankar, General Manager, Corporate Planning, TKM, said.

With the Government prohibiting the strike, those who had joined the strike will have to forgo their salary for 16 days.

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