Chennai, Nov 30 (IANS): A total of 23 dismissed workers of Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) were detained by the police Wednesday when they attempted to stage a hunger strike near the car plant at Irrungattukottai here, said a union official.

"The police denied permission to the dismissed workers to go on a protest fast. They have detained 23 persons in a choultry in Sriperumbudur. Whether they will be let out or not will be known only later," R.Gunasekaran, vice president of Hyundai Motor India Employees Union (HMIEU), told IANS.

"The venue for the protest fast is where normally political and other meetings are held. The police have denied permission to us," R.Sridhar, HMIEU general secretary, told IANS.

Inside the plant of the Indian subsidiary of the South Korean auto maker Hyundai, members of HMIEU continued their working fast for 17th day to press for various demands.

According to HMIEU, the primary reason for the protest is the reduction of workforce on the assembly line and their redeployment in other works.

Workers do not eat lunch or any food or drink anything (tea or coffee) while at work. Wearing black badges, they finish their work and go back home.

However, company management and members of the rival union United Union of Hyundai Employees (UUHE) have a different take on the matter.

According to them, the protest against the redeployment of workforce is a ruse to press their other demands like the reinstatement of 32 dismissed workers and permission to hold union elections.

"The wage agreement with the company is coming up for renewal in March and HMIEU would like the management to hold talks with them," an official of UUHE told IANS, preferring anonymity.

The HMIL management had taken into confidence UUHE while chalking out the redeployment.

"We negotiated with the management for nearly one and half months on the redeployment," K. Dilli Babu, president of UUHE, told IANS.

"The company has shifted some portion of Santro and i20 models to different lines. Some portion of Santro has been shifted to A2 production line in the first plant and i20 production to the second plant," he said.

"The workers in the assembly line have been redeployed based on the workload in each work station. However, the redeployment has not added any additional workload on the workers," E.K. Kumaraswamy, treasurer of UUHE, told IANS.

The redeployment was made after the company started production of new small car Eon.

The number of components in Eon is low as compared to other models and hence the management decided to redeploy the work force for their efficient utilisation, some workers told IANS.

"The decision on redeployment of workers was taken in consultation with the recognised union and there is no increase in workload for the workers," R.Sethuraman, senior vice president (finance and corporate affairs) of HMIL, told IANS.

Hyundai Motor has two plants near here with a total annual production capacity of 630,000 units. The company plans to increase the capacity by 40,000 units next year.

"HMIEU got a booster dose with the labour court ordering HMIL to reinstate two dismissed workers - union president Edison Periera and another office bearer, Chinnaraja," Sridhar said.

"The company is contesting the order in the Madras High Court but has started paying the two workers monthly salaries as per the labour court orders," he added.