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.