[Resolved]  Labor Unrest Hits India Bosch Output — India's Bosch Ltd. said Thursday it is losing 40 million rupees ($879,720) a day since Feb. 12.

India's Bosch Ltd. said Thursday it is losing 40 million rupees ($879,720) a day since Feb. 12 because of labor issues at two of the auto-parts maker's factories that together contribute more than half of its net sales.The unit of German engineering conglomerate Robert Bosch GmbH, where workers are demanding higher wages, is one of the latest Indian auto-parts makers to face labor troubles. A 45-day strike at Rico Auto Industries Ltd. late last year had forced General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. to temporarily shut factories in North America because of part shortages, while a local unit of Japan's Denso Corp. is currently witnessing labour unrest at its manufacturing plant.The issues come at a time when the fast-growing auto industry is driving demand for parts in India. Also, global auto makers setting up manufacturing plants in the country are sourcing parts locally to reduce costs.Bosch said workers at its factories at Bangalore and Naganathpura, both in the southern Karnataka state, are demanding an around 45% hike in their current average monthly total salary of 36,000 rupees.The company has locked out its Naganathpura plant, outside the Bangalore city, since Monday as all the 715 permanent workers there are on strike. It may take a similar step in Bangalore as well where its 2,400 workers have slowed down production, Bosch said.The company, which reported net sales of 47 billion rupees in 2009, has about 6,700 permanent workers. Its other factories, in western India's Nashik and Goa and the northern city of Jaipur, aren't affected, Bosch said.Bosch has been negotiating with its employees for the past seven months on their demand for wage hikes. The last time it had a wage settlement was in 2005, when it gave an average increase of INR3,600 a month to its workmen. That settlement expired Dec. 31, 2008.Soumitra Bhattacharya, Bosch's senior vice president, said the company has promised a wage hike. "We would make an offer that is equivalent to industry-cum-region norms, subject to their (workers) agreeing on certain basic management proposals" such as improving productivity, Mr. Bhattacharya told reporters at a press conference.A Bosch official, who didn't want to be named, told Dow Jones Newswires that the company has offered a wage increase of 4,000 rupees per month in Bangalore and 2,400 rupees in Naganathpura. It is even willing to increase these offers, he said, but didn't say by how much.This official said also negotiations at the Bangalore plant were at an advance stage and that the labor union there had agreed to a higher level of productivity. But talks with the Naganathpura union are at an initial stage, he added.Meanwhile, the head of the Naganathpura labor union, Prasanna Kumar, told Dow Jones Newswires that the employees at the plant have demanded a 4,500 rupees per person interim wage hike at a conciliatory meeting between the management and the unit before the local labor commissioner Thursday. However, the management's offer was 3,000 rupees a month, he added."Today's meeting has reached a stalemate. We are again meeting on March 15," he added.Mr. Kumar said the union is demanding a total of 25% increase in basic pay and allowances and free hospitalization facilities for the workers.