Jan. 13: A Trinamul Congress-backed union today held up work at the Mitsubishi plant in Haldia and gheraoed over 120 managers, including 40 Japanese nationals. The blockade at the Mitsubishi plant, Bengal's largest foreign direct investment project, was the latest and the most high-profile manifestation of a Trinamul scramble for spoils in the industrial belt. The resurrection of militant trade unionism also coincided with the penultimate day of Bengal Leads, an event intended at showcasing the state as an ideal investment destination. The Haldia siege started at 4pm on the plant premises and continued till police persuaded the leaders to lift it around 9pm. The roots of the conflict can be traced to the Left era when CPM strongman Lakshman Seth's writ ran in the area. In the run-up to the Assembly polls, the balance of power shifted but with the added menace of multiple satraps staking claim to the Haldia pie — something The Telegraph had written about as early as September 12 last year. If small and medium enterprises were the prime targets of demands for money and interference so far, today's incident suggests the theatre has expanded. The seed of the latest dispute at Mitsubishi was sown on Tuesday when the union threw out a candidate who had turned up to fill a manager's post. The union bosses were upset that the management called the candidate to the interview without consulting them. Mitsubishi has 230 managers, who are not part of any union. It has 340 workers, all of whom belong to the Trinamul-led Nationalist Employees' Union. The workers owe allegiance to Milan Mondal, the working president of the Mitsubishi employees' union. The management filed a complaint with Durgachak police station the next day. Angered by the police complaint and the management's decision to fill the post, the union allegedly prevented contract workers from entering the premises for maintenance work at one of the two units of the plant. Mitsubishi official Sanjay Rajguru said the company would make a daily loss of Rs 1 crore if the maintenance is not completed in two weeks. It has lost two days so far because of the union trouble. Some 1,500 contract workers turn up for the temporary repair job. These workers belong to the Nationalist Contractor Employees' Union, which also functions under Mondal. In between, some union members prevented the despatch of purified terephthalic acid, a white grainy substance used to make plastic bottles and chairs. A new flank was opened today when the unionised permanent employees of the company joined the disruption process. They launched an agitation demanding wage revision, which is already under negotiation under the aegis of the labour commissioner. Among those besieged today was human resource vice-president Yuji Yamamoto. Mondal, considered close to Trinamul MP Subhendu Adhikari, termed the protest spontaneous. "They were demanding a hike. The workers were also upset when the management tried to recruit one from outside, ignoring the locals," he said. But voices of dissent rose from within Trinamul itself. Shibnath Sarkar, the East Midnapore working president of the Indian National Trinamul Trade Union Congress, differed with Mondal. "We don't support this. They have stopped work and gheraoed without the party's consent. I have spoken to labour minister Purnendu Bose and we ourselves informed the police," Sarkar said. But Durgachak OC Kudrate Khuda Bux said: "We got to know from the management. But we could not send a force immediately because many were preoccupied with the chief minister's visit in Digha. Later, a force was sent to lift the blockade." With cumulative investment of nearly $800 million, the Mitsubishi project is one of the few success stories in Bengal's arid industrial map. Work on the plant started in 1997 and commercial production in 2000. WBIDC has a minority stake in the company. | 
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