Union Management Negotiation at Bawa Motors

UNION-MANAGEMENT NEGOTIATION AT BAWA MOTORS

Bawa Motors is located in the industrial complex at Manesar near Gurgaon. It is an auto ancillary manufacturer dealing primarily with gears and other automobile components. It supplies to reputed national and multinational companies in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt.

They have one factory with a total of 320 employees and 28 executives. Average monthly salary earned by the workers is Rs 9600. They also had other facilities like subsidized food, free safety shoes and uniforms. Although not among the highest paying establishments, the company's pays much more than the average salaries of other plants in the locality.

The company was started by Smt. Garima Bawa in the year 1999 and did good business in the first few years to grow into an important player in that region. Management skills of the founder coupled with good marketing skills of the marketing manager Asif Bahubali gave a YOY growth of 20% every year.

The management-union relations in the company have always been smooth with no major conflicts till 2008. The plant IR manager Krishna Chaitanya was well respected by the employees and was said to have a cordial relationship with the union leader Lenin Babu. All the employees of the plant were members of the recognized union "United Auto Workers Union".

The last settlement (mutual agreement on wages and working conditions) was signed on July 2004 for a period of 5 years after the 1999 settlement expired. The existing settlement is about to expire in two months and both the management and the union want to come to an agreement and sign the new settlement soon, by resolving all the existing issues.

Union Brief

You are the office bearers of the United Auto Workers Union and will be negotiating the settlement on behalf of the workmen.

Traditionally, the settlements have been for a period of five years. Once signed, the mutually agreed terms, such as wages and benefits, will be frozen as per the settlement for the duration of the settlement. With inflation swinging wildly and food prices being highly unpredictable, you want to sign a settlement for a period of 2 years only.

With rising inflation, the cost living for industrial workers is increasing day by day. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) increased by around 5% in the last year and the food inflation is reaching alarming levels. The unrest among the workers has intensified after the neighbouring plants reached settlements. AB Automobiles reached a settlement where all the workmen got a wage increase of Rs 1100 per month and BC Motors Ltd. gave a raise of Rs 900 per month. The workmen of Bawa Motors come from the same villages as the workmen of