Toyota suspends Indian auto production

Toyota said Monday it has suspended production at its two Indian auto assembly plants in response to threats against management and "deliberate" assembly-line stoppages, as efforts to hammer out a labour deal failed. The world's biggest automaker said the move will see the lock-out of about 6,400 employees at the factories in southern India. Company and union officials had been trying to sign a new contract for the past 10 months, with the local government helping mediate negotiations. "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," Toyota said in a statement, according to AFP.