Chennai, Aug 20 (IANS) Workers' strike at the automotive component maker Comstar Automotive Technologies Pvt Ltd near here in Tamil Nadu continued for the 10th day Saturday.


Around 425 workers of the company are on strike since Aug 11, demanding recognition of their union and negotiations over a three-year wage accord that ended March.

“The management did not come for the conciliation meeting held Friday. The next round of meeting is slated for Monday,” Comstar Automotive Technologies Employees’ Union general secretary D.Natarajan told IANS.

The workers come to the protest venue daily in the morning and return home in the evening, he said.

“We will continue with this method of protest for the next two days and decide the future course of action after Monday's conciliation meeting,” Natarajan said.

The company has around 490 permanent workers and around 350 temporary workers -- trainees and apprentices, Natarajan said.

Production at the factory has come drastically down to around 20 percent levels, he added.

Comstar Automotive manufactures and supplies auto components like starters and alternators for cars and light commercial vehicles.

The company is a Tier I supplier for companies like Ford Motor Company, Volvo, Tata Motors and others according to its website.

Comstar Automotive, formerly Visteon Powertrain, was set up in 1998 to supply starters and alternators for Ford's European operations.

It supplies over 1.1 million starter motors and one million sub-assemblies annually to original equipment manufacturers around the world and in India.