Lift lockout or state will take over, MRF told

Just four weeks after it threatened to take over cement companies if they did not reduce prices, the Tamil Nadu government warned the MRF management that it would do the same with MRF's tyre manufacturing unit at Tiruvottiyur near Chennai if the company did not lift the near two-month lockout.

Answering questions from members in the assembly, Electricity Minister N Veerasamy urged the MRF management to find a solution to the labour issue in a week's time. If no solution was found, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi will be forced to intervene, he said.

If the chief minister's intervention does not solve the current impasse over the lockout, the government will take over the unit, he said.

MRF had declared an indefinite lockout at its Tiruvottiyur factory from December 3 last year. The announcement followed a one-day token lockout declared on November 30.

It was learnt that the company refused to pay the workers on the plea that productivity norms were not being met. MRF officials said that workers were not meeting productivity norms fixed two years ago. Company officials stressed that the plant could not be run inefficiently and wanted the workers to change their stand.

Intervention by the state labour commission has also failed to arrive at a solution.

However, in the interest of the workers, the company is open to resolving the issues amicably through discussions. The management had called a meeting but the union said discussions could only be held under certain pre-conditions.

MRF was open to discussing the issue and arriving at solutions, which would be beneficial to both sides, the company said in an advertisement posted in a Tamil daily a few days ago, which clarified its reasons for the lockout.

According to a statement issued on Wednesday by the state labour minister, discussions were continuing between the management and the union and the state government had taken necessary actions under the law. The state government is awaiting a high court order for further action.

The Tiruvottiyur factory is one of MRF's oldest plants, accounting for about 10 per cent of its turnover, and has about 1,600 people on its rolls, including contract workers.