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Gurgaon, Feb 20 (IANS) All four Maruti Suzuki plants in Gurgaon will be shut Thursday as the workers will join the two-day nationwide strike called by trade unions. Workers from other leading firms will also join them, union leaders said Wednesday. Workers from leading factories in the Gurgaon-Manesar-Dharuhera and Bawal belt will strike work Thursday. Maruti Suzuki's all four plants in Gurgaon -- Maruti Udyog Ltd., and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. at Manesar, Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd. (SPIL) at Manesar and Suzuki Motorcycles India at Kherki Daula -- will remain shut Thursday. Workers of leading automobile companies, including Honda Scooters, Hero Motocorp Ltd. at Dharuhera and Gurgaon, all three units of Rico auto, Satyam Auto, Eastern Medikit and Sona Koyo Ltd., will join the nationwide strike called by central trade unions that began Wednesday. Ancillary companies of the factories will also suspend production, said union leaders. The central trade unions have put forward their demands, including urgent steps to control price rise, strict enforcement of labour laws, social security net for workers in unorganised sectors and end to disinvestment in PSUs. "We endorse all the demands raised by several trade unions across country and reinstatement of sacked workers and withdrawal of false cases against their jailed colleagues and leaders of the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union," Kuldeep Janghu, president, Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union, told IANS. Anil Kumar, president of Suzuki Motorcycles Workers Union, said: "There will be a complete shutdown in all four plants of Suzuki India, including its Manesar unit." A Maruti Suzuki spokesperson refused to comment on the strike. "The one-day strike includes issues like reinstatement of nearly 2,500 workers, including 546 permanent employees, at the Maruti's Manesar plant, release of illegally arrested Maruti workers and it's leader Iman Khan, Hero Motocorp's unsuccessfull negotiations with the management for over six months for a three-year wage settlement and an end to the lockout at Eastern Medikit," said Satbir Singh, state president, Centre of Indian Trade Unions. The unions have demanded concrete measures for containing inflation, steps for employment generation, universal social security, and hiking the minimum wage to Rs.10,000 per month, along with daily allowance. The two-day strike has been called jointly by 11 trade unions including Indian Trade Union Congress (INTUC), AITUC, Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.
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