Maruti takes workers on familiarisation trip to Japan

NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki India is walking extra mile to improve relationship with its factory workers by taking union representatives on a familiarisation trip to parent Suzuki Motor Corp's (SMC) facilities in Japan, over a year after being hit by a violent labour unrest.

While the first batch of the union members of the company's Gurgaon plant, Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union ( MUKU) left the country on Saturday for a week-long trip, it is understood that a similar batch of workers from the Manesar plant will undertake a similar tour sometime next year.

"We will be meeting SMC Chairman Osamu Suzuki, representatives from their unions, as well as HR department people during our visit to Japan," MUKU general secretary Kuldeep Janghu said. Commenting on the purpose of the trip, Janghu said: "It will help us know their systems better. It will also help us understand them better so that things which happened a year-ago do not ever happen again." The 15-member delegation would also witness the functioning of various departments in Suzuki's facilities, including production manoeuvres, he added.

When asked about the development, Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava said: "We have been doing such activities for the last 25 years. During the visit, the union delegation would meet Japanese workers, union representatives and would also see manufacturing processes in the Suzuki factories."

Maruti had witnessed a violent labour unrest at its Manesar plant last year in July, in which one senior executive was killed. Following the incident, the company had fired 546 workers. Janghu added that a similar delegation from the company's Manesar plant may also visit Japan in next couple of months.