Three-month strike at Bosch’s Bangalore plant ends

Bosch Ltd’s Bangalore plant has concluded a wage settlement with its workers’ union ending the nearly three-month shutout at the plant. The agreement with the Workmen Union - Mico Employees’ Association (MEA) signed today is for the period 2013-16.

With the signing of this settlement, the strike that began on September 16 and which the company called illegal comes to an end. The union has  agreed to accept the company’s last offered wage and benefits proposal that would enable the earning potential – the monthly cost-to-company (CTC) – of an average workman to increase from Rs 64,000 to Rs 86,000, subject to working as per industrial engineering standards for 7.5 hours of work in an eight-hour shift, Bosch said in a statement.

 “The company has made a generous offer to its Workmen Union and expects them to adhere to the agreed measures on productivity standards,” said Dr Steffen Berns, managing director, Bosch Ltd.

“The company will continue its efforts towards establishing a trustful collaboration with its workmen and jointly finding a way to help the company in maintaining its competitiveness. This settlement is a step towards securing the future of our Bengaluru plant,” Dr Berns elaborated.

Bosch has also offered to confirm 100 of the 370 temporary workmen at a new intermediate wage level despite the fact that in future it is likely to have excess manpower due to change in product mix.  Expressing the company’s gratitude to the state government and its labour department, Dr Berns said the “current wage settlement endeavours to prepare Bosch for being ‘future ready’ through implementation of sustainable measures to support the growing needs of the Indian automotive industry.”