Sanjay Singhvi and Umakant |
| Blog | Posted By: hindtodaynews on:8/6/2012 12:08:08 AM |
Dear all,
Maruti incident was the banner headline for few days in the national media. The corporate media has only highlighted the management side and ignored the workers view point.
In fact, the contractual labour in the post-globalisation era has created several problems. It has given way to exploitation and generated insecurity among the work force.
We need to understand the real reasons for the violence between Management and workforce at the Maruti unit at Manesar.
Please read the report of TUCI Team on the Maruti violence.
Thanks & Regards,
Sai Prasan
Report on incident at Maruti Suzuki Ltd on 18th July 2012
As per the decision of the CC of TUCI held on 21st and 22nd July 2012 in Mumbai, Com. Sanjay Singhvi, General Secretary of TUCI and Com. Umakant from the New Delhi Central Office of TUCI visited Gurgaon to obtain information of the incident which occurred in the Maruti plant at Manesar on 18th July 2012.
The visit took place on 29th of July 2012. We visited 5 of the Maruti workers who have been arrested (two of them only on the preceding day, 28th July 2012) and spoke to the police available and also to the lawyers representing the workers, mainly Mr. Pathak and Mr. Bharadwaj.
We also got various correspondence related to this matter from various parties including the FIR in this matter.
THE GENERAL SITUATION
Before we discuss the strike in Maruti, it is necessary to comment on the situation in Harayana in general. Harayana is probably the most “feudal” of all the states in India with the lowest sex ratio in all of India (in the whole world actually!) with some districts having
less than 800 women per 1000 men. It is the land of Khap Panchayats dispensing instant justice in the form of honour killings. It is where the worst atrocities against dalits take place with the incidents of Mirchpur and Jhajjar still fresh in the minds of people. It is one of the most “developed” agricultural areas in India and the base area of the “green revolution”. However, this skewed capitalist development in this area has resulted in large use of tractors, fertilisers and pesticides without affecting the absolute domination of the upper castes especially of the Jats.
In this milieu, large scale ultra-modern industrial plants are being introduced in Harayana in some parts like Gurgaon and Manesar (near Delhi). The result is that even in such plants, which use the state-of-the-art technology, there is a strong feudal relationship still existing between workers and management. Especially in the case of Japanese managements, the strategy of union-avoidance and union-bashing is rampant. Workers are expected to keep “discipline” - which is another word for kowtowing to the management – and unions are
seen as subsersive of discipline.
In the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki, the workers have been fighting for over one year for the simple demand, guaranteed by the Constitution of India and by core labour standards of the ILO, of forming a union of their choice.
In June last year, the workers applied for registration of a union, named the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union. This union was affiliated to the AITUC. Using that as an excuse, the management victimised 13 of the leading workers. The management openly stated that it was not willing for an “outside union”. The whole of the state machinery was not only not able to enforce the right of the workers to form a union of their choice but instead refused to register the union.
This strike was solved before the state refused to register the union on the basis that the Government would process the application for registration as per law. However, later, the Government used specious pleas to refuse this registration. The Government insisted on
recognising the Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union, of which the workers in the Gurgaon plant of Maruti Suzuke are members, was the only union with the capacity to negotiate even for the workers of the Manesar plant.
(Gurgaon and Manesar are close to each other and in the same district of Gurgaon but different plants).
In August 2011, the management declared a lock-out, since they alleged that the workers were sabotaging the making of the cars (doors kept falling off, ostensibly), to extract revenge for the denial of the union of their choice. The management asked all the workers to sign a good-conduct bond, whieh the workers refused to do. The lock-out continued till October 2011 (33 days), when finally, the AITUC buckled down and asked the workers to sign the bond. The management agreed to take all the workers back, save 44 against whom disciplinary proceedings would be carried out.
The workers resumed work on around 1st October 2011 but found to their chagrin that over 1200 contract workers who were locked-out with the permanent workers were not taken back on work This was because, Maruti, during the lock-out period had employed hundreds of black legs and had got around over 40% production from the Manesar plant. The management was not ready to remove these black legs immediately and allow the earlier contract workers to resume work.
The workers were back on strike from around 7th October. This time the strike lasted for around 13 days till 19th October. On 19th October, a settlement was reached with the local leaders agreeing that all victimised workers, save around 40 would be taken back on duty (About 40 more had been victimised during the course of the strike and 44 from earlier). All contract workers would also be taken back on duty and a “Workers Welfare Committee” would be formed. A Grievance redressal committee would also be formed under the newly notified section 9C of the Industrial Disputes Act as amended by the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 2010.
Attempts had also been made for deducting two days wages for each day of strike both during the June strike and in October. However, this attempt was taken back though the workers were penalised an extra days wage for the strike of October 2011.
It is noteworthy to note that all the leaders of the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union, which had led the struggle till then left the plant soon later. Almost all the suspended workers resigned from the company on October 22nd. Reports say that the leaders have admitted to being paid Rs. 16 lakhs each. Other reports state that they were paid Rs. 40 lakhs. Later the management gave a statement saying that the monetary deal was reached with the active help of the government.
Since then the workers tried to form a new union on their own. Once again, sensing trouble, the management coralled the workers' leaders and told them that they would form the union for the workers. It was with the management's active connivance that the current Maruti Suzuki Workers Union was registered on 23rd February 2012.
The deal seems to have been that the committee in power would not rock the boat too much and the management would turn a blind eye to their activities. However, the workers were not willing to accept this.
There are reports that the workers even bashed up the committee and forced them to
send a charter of demands, demanding upto Rs. 8000 wage rise, especially for contract workers.
It seems the management was not very happy with this turn of events and instead started pressurising the workers to form a Grievance Redressal Committee as had been agreed to under the agreement of 19th October 2011. This would have given the management a chance to once again skirt the workers union and negotiate with another body, the Grievance Redressal Committee, which would
In a bizarre turn of events, the Labour Department of Haryana addressed a Show Cause Notice to the Maruti management asking them to show cause why they should not be prosecuted under section 29 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, for failing to implement a settlement!
There are thousands of settlement about which there are complaints about non-implementation, almost always from the workers' side. No action is ever taken about such alleged non-implementation. Here, without any complaint from the workers or their union, the Government is suddenly threatening to prosecute the management under an obscure provision of the law! This was obviously a letter invited by the Maruti management itself to bring pressure on the workers to form a Grievance Redressal Committee.
The Maruti workers were therefore at the end of their tether. Add to this the fact of a huge wage disparity between contract workers (getting between 5000 to 8000) and permanent workers (getting from 14000 to 25000) for doing work, often of a similar nature, and
simmering discontent about other conditions of service, and the volatility of the situation is clear.
THE ACTUAL INCIDENTAll agree that the incident was sparked by one supervisor calling a casteist name (Dhed) to a worker Jiyalal. Jiyalal is a “chamar” (cobbler) by caste, one of the lowest castes in feudal Haryana. There have been reports in the press that the supervisor who called him that
name is himself a person from the lower castes, named Majhi. However, information from workers shows that the supervisor who called Jiyalal by that name was Samsher Singh who belonged to the upper castss. The FIR, filed by one Deepak Anand, GM, states that Majhi complained that Jiyalal had assaulted him and therefore Jiyalal was immediately suspended. However the FIR is totally silent about the casteist remarks being made at all, never mind about who made them. Be that as it may, only Jiyalal was suspended for allegedly assaulting Majhi and no action was taken against any person for using casteist language.
The FIR states vaguely that workers started demonstrating inside the factory at the end of the first shift at 3 pm, though the incident with Jiyalal occured at 8:30 am. It names 54 workers as being in the demonstrations. It then says that a meeting was held with the
management in the “hall” of the office. The FIR is again vague on who exactly attended the meeting with the management at this point of time, though the managements representatives are clearly mentioned.
That two officials of the labour department were also present at the time of the talks with the management is also mentioned in the FIR.
The FIR then says that the workers representatives were not willing to relent and left the meeting after giving inflammatory speeches. Then it says that about 500 to 600 workers along with the earlier mentioned union functionaries entered the hall, at around 7 pm, with iron rods and sticks and beat the managers present with intent to kill. The FIR
says that they set fire to the company office and the surroundings and the Time Office. It further says that vehicles in and outside the company were also trashed. When the police tried to stop them they were also beaten. If further says that after the fire was brought
under control, one body was found in the Office. The FIR mentions that the body found is suspected to be that of Avnish Kumar Dev, the GM of HR.
The FIR is silent about who, besides Avnish Kumar Dev were injured and what exact property was damaged or lost.
THE WORKERS VERSIONWe have not been able to get the workers version fully as we were forced to talk to them in massive police presence. However, the version that we were able to piece together by the little talks that we had is like this. There was an incident with Jiyalal and Samsher Singh in the morning when Samsher called Jiyalal a Dhed. However, only Jiyalal was suspended. They say that they went to protest about this to the management at the end of the 1st Shift, at around 3 or 3:30 pm. There was no demonstration as alleged by the management. The
management refused to relent. They came out of the meeting at around 7 pm. They allege that there is one contractor Rakesh, who has been getting goons into the factory to intimidate the workers. On that day too, he had got his goons. It was an altercation with these goons that led to the free-for-all in the factory, in which many workers joined.
They say that they are not at all responsible for the starting of any fire. They do not know how a fire started. Very important is that some of the workers say clearly that they saw Avnish Kumar Dev leave the office after the meeting.
THE PROBABILITYThe probability is that the version from the workers is closer to the truth. The version in the FIR is full of improbabilities and contradictions. Why should the workers wait till the end of the shift to demonstrate about Jiyalal? After such an emotional incident, would
not the reaction be immediate rather than after about 6 or 7 hours? Secondly according to the FIR, the same workers demonstrated in the factory at 3 pm, the same workers attended the meeting with the management and the same workers burst into the office at 7 pm. This is hardly believable. Most tellingly the FIR is made by one Deepak Anand who does not seem to have attended the meeting in the “hall” of the office. The FIR does not say that the workers were carrying any petrol or other such substance which would be necessary if they intended to start a fire. The FIR says that the workers burst into the office at 7
pm in a pre-planned manner. This is hardly believable. It could not have been planned that Samsher would insult Jiyalal. Further there was no time between the ending of the meeting (the FIR is silent about the time of this) and the fracas at around 7 pm to plan such an incident with hundreds of workers.
The report of the All India Lawyers Union, Haryana, which investigated the incident has stated that there is no evidence that the fire was started by the workers. It says that the fire may have broken out due to a short circuit.
The main point though which points to the management being responsible is that it was the management which was getting desperate to destabilise the union by forming a Grievance Redressal Committee for which it had used its clout in the Government also. The workers had no pressing demands and were in no hurry for their settlement.
THE REPRESSIONAt present the workers are being subject to severe repression. The very first day, a remand application named 91 workers, though only 54 were mentioned in the FIR. Workers are being kept in police custody for recurring remands. Persons who were not even mentioned in the original 91 are being arrested. In short the managements writ is rife. If the management says a worker was involved, he is being hounded and arrested. On 29th July, 2012, though a Sunday, two workers who were arrested the earlier day were produced in court. The police asked for 5 days custody. The reason was that one of the workers was from Ropar and the other from Sangrur. The allegation was that they had kept the rods with which they beat the managers in Ropar and Sangrur. On such obviously trumped up stories, the poor workers are being kept in police custody for days.
ON FREEDOM OF UNION FORMATIONTUCI is of the clear opinion that the main cause for this incident which brought about the sad death of Avnish Kumar Dev is the absolute reluctance of the Maruti management to allow the workers to make a union of their choice. It is not a coincidence that many of the recent strikes have to do with the right to union formation. The strike of the Jet Airways pilots in 2009 was due to the leaders being summarily dismissed after forming a union. The strike of the Indian Airlines pilots last year ended up with the courts being used to threaten
contempt upon the union leaders. The strike of the aircraft engineers following the Mangalore air crash was responded to by the cancellation of their union's recognition.
No doubt India is one of the few countries in the world which has not ratified ILO conventions 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948) and 98 (Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949). However, we have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which guarantees the righ to freedom of association. Further, we have adopted Article 19(1)(c) in our Constitution as a fundamental right which guarantees to every citizen the freedom to form an association “or union” of one's choice.
In such a situation it is shameful that an MNC like Maruti Suzuki can still try and avoid the formation of a union among its workers. This distasteful situation must be ended at once.
WHAT MUST BE DONE:Immediately after the incident of the 18th July on 22nd July we had made the following demands:
1. That the contract labour system be abolished in Maruti Udyog Ltd and all the contract workers be absorbed as permanent workers with effect from their initial dates of appointment and be paid all arrears accordingly;
2. That the workers demands for wages and benefits be settled immediately and amicably;
3. That the suspension orders against victimised workers be immediately revoked;
4. That the management immediately lift the lock-out and restore normalcy;
5. That the Government stop all attempts to interfere with the rights of the workers to form a union of their choice;
6. That the Government immediately stop the witch-hunt against the union leaders upon which it has embarked;
7. That the Government immediately take action against the management for violation of the provisions of the Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation), 1971 and the rules made under it;
8. That the Government immediately scrap all the false cases against the workers and release all the arrested workers forthwith;
In addition we have to add that
• The Maruti Suzuki Workers Union must be immediately recognised.
• The management and the Government must immediately stop its attempts to destabilise the union by forming a Grievance Redressal Committee;
• That action be taken against the officers responsible in the Haryana Government;
• That an impartial inquiry be held into the whole incident by the Central Government or any police body not subject to the Haryana Government;
• That an inquiry also be held into the incident of castesist abuse of Jiyalal and the guilty party be punished;
• That an inquiry be held into the goons brought into the factory by contractor Rakesh and his contract be cancelled immediately;
• That the witch-hunt being pursued against the workers be stopped immediately and the trial of the case be shifted to outside Haryana.
• That all workers be adequately compensated for the wages they have lost due to the lockout
Sanjay Singhvi Umakant