Where does Maruti go from here?
By N. N. Sachitanand BANGALORE, NOV. 12. When this correspondent first visited the Gurgaon plant of Maruti Udyog Ltd. (MUL), back in 1985, the Japanese HR practices followed there were proudly pointed out to him and the claim was made that this company would be a trailblazer in harmonious industrial relations in the country. The current confrontation between the union and the management is an ironic refutation of that claim. The Managing Director, Mr. Jagdish Khattar, claims, “We continue to have cordial relations with the union.” How “cordial” are the industrial relations can be judged from the fact that the management has had to resort to the court last week to ensure that every employee signs a “good conduct” affirmation before being allowed to enter the factory. As for the union, its claims to be “unaffiliated” and non-politicised are now suspect by the fact that it has taken recourse to the support of Opposition politicians (Mr. Gurudas Dasgupta, Mr. V. P. Singh and even M
