Unrest Continues Despite Lifting of MRF Lockout

The lockout at MRF Ltd’s Arakkonam factory in southeast India has been lifted – but many employees are refusing to return to work. An announcement from management regarding an end to the ten-day-old lockout was made on May 27, yet the company’s dispute with the MRF United Workers Union (MUWU), which declared a strike at the Arakkonam plant on May 9, remains an unresolved issue.

India’s Business Standard newspaper discloses that a number of MRF workers plan to file a Supreme Court petition against the company’s management. MUWU honorary president V. Prakash told the paper “we don’t have a choice but to file a petition in [the] Supreme Court” following recent failed talks. “The main plea would be to recognise the union,” he explained.

The MUWU claims the support of the majority Arakkonam plant workers and believes the wage agreement signed with the rival MRF Arakkonam Worker’s Welfare Union doesn’t represent their best interest. The Business Standard notes that the MUWU considers its rival pro-management and thus wants MRF to discuss wage changes with it instead.

The Business Standard has also reported the May 27 arrest of a number of MRF workers. The employees were arrested in Chennai for protesting in front of a department of labour building. The Arakkonam workers travelled there after talks with the local administration broke down, the paper said.