Amid some testing circumstances Toyota had to suspend production at both of their Indian car production plants.
Staff at the factories were 'threatening' management and they were putting deliberate stops to the production lines. This left the world number one car producer Toyota with little choice but to temporarily close down both plants.
The two production plants are located just outside Bangalore in Southern India and between them they produce up to 700 cars a day. The Indian market held 1.6% of Toyota's total sales for 2013.
Toyota have had to lock out over 6,400 workers in order to protect their management and to avoid any further problems. They have been in negotiation with trade unions for the past 10 months to try to come to a solution over suitable wages for the employees.
Toyota are hoping that the plants will not have to be kept locked down for too long and that an amicable solution can be reached in the very near future so that production can begin again as soon as possible.
Toyota released this statement on the issue: "In the meantime, under the instigation of the union, certain sections of the employees have resorted to deliberate stoppages of the production line, abuse and threatening of supervisors thereby continuously disrupting business for the past 25 days. All these unlawful activities have been detailed in the lock-out notice. With this background, the company is left with no other option but to declare a lock-out of the premises to ensure the safety of its workers and management personnel."
Lets hope a solution can be reached soon for the benefit of both parties.
