Royal Enfield Workers Go on Strike Again at the Chennai Plant

Royal Enfield is again stuck with an unfortunate strike over the wage hike negotiations and change in the status of employment for a section of workers. The last strike was effective for 50 days and brought a production loss of 28,000 units to the brand. This time, the company has announced that a small number of workers illegally went on a strike at the Oragadam facility. However, the effect of the strike on production is unknown at the moment. The last strike happened before the launch of 650 Twins and this time, the effect could go straight on the waiting period of their premium offerings.

The rising demand for the 650 Twins and the ongoing strike can further impact the company’s production capacity in the coming days. Royal Enfield is India’s sixth largest brand by volume and every unit counts toward their huge 5-digit monthly production number. It is yet to be seen how the brand deals with the ongoing strike as the sensitive matter could get worse with one wrong decision by the management.

In a filing to the national stock exchange, Eicher Motors, the parent company of the motorcycle maker said, “Royal Enfield remains deeply committed, as always in the past, to maintain respectful relationships with all employees. We believe an engaged workforce and cordial industrial relations, create a culture of excellence where all employees are proud of their contributions to the organisation. It is unfortunate that a certain section of our workforce has resorted to an illegal strike at our Oragadam plant in Chennai despite the company’s best efforts and positive intentions. We have been working closely with our workforce and have undertaken various constructive and confidence-building initiatives.”

“We are focused on resolving all issues in an amicable manner while keeping the best interests of the organization and our workforce in mind,” the company added in the statement.