Pawar meets Bajaj Auto employees

MUMBAI: Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Friday asked Bajaj Auto’s (BAL) Pune unit employees to come up with their options within eight days to help him resolve the imbroglio amicably by first week of November.

Addressing Bajaj Auto’s labour union members in Mumbai on Friday, Mr Pawar also promised to have another meet — his seventh on the issue — in the first week of November with the management. The company’s workers have been sitting on the bench since September 1 after the management decided to close the plant.

In earlier meetings with unions, Rahul Bajaj and his son, managing director Rajiv Bajaj has put three options before the workers. First, any worker wanting to continue to work with BAL would be employed with BAL’s dealers. Second, workers’ children who are diploma holders would be employed at the Chakan plant near Pune.

The last one is to accept a voluntary retirement. The workers, however, have rejected all the three. But, Mr Pawar asked the workers to come with their options instead of mere opposing the management. “Workers should also have their options to offer while opposing the management. If Bajaj employees come up with such options I will see the issue gets resolved soon,” he said.