(Translation of a leaflet distributed in Delhi and Gurgaon by Bigul Mazdoor Dasta)

Long Live the Revolution!

Long Live Worker's Unity!

Stop Oppression and Persecution of Maruti Suzuki Workers!

Stop One-sided Indictment of Workers Even Before Investigation! Arrest Management Officials Responsible for Inciting Violence!
Comrades, The incident of 18th July has exposed the management's claims that all was hunky dory inside the Maruti Suzuki Manesar factory and relations between workers and the management are back to being "cordial". It is yet another representative incident about the conditions of industrial workers today. This incident not only highlights the suffocating atmosphere pervading inside the factories throughout the country, it has once again exposed the true nature of the government, administrative and police machinery. It has also exposed the anti-worker attitude of the corporate media and has also shown that notwithstanding tall claims about independence and neutrality they are nonetheless the propaganda machines of the ruling classes. The electronic media, particularly and as per routine, is hell-bent on presenting the workers as a violent, anarchic, brutish mob in its one-sided reporting. Making a mockery of basic principles of jurisprudence and law the police has implicated all 3000 workers in the case and has launched a massive man-hunt. On the other hand, none from the management side has even been questioned. There has been a flood of sympathy for the injured managerial staff but no mention is being made of the injured workers. The workers have repeatedly said that the management had called goons from outside to attack the workers but the police, administration and the media do not find this claim worthy of investigation. Very similar to what happened in the Graziano factory in Greater Noida in 2008 and Allied Nippon in Sahibabad in 2010, one of the parties, the workers, has been indicted as criminals even before carrying out any investigation. The incident of 18th July, of course, was neither pre-planned nor can it be justified as a form of struggle. It was the explosion of discontent simmering among the workers for a long time which got provoked by the actions of the management. No one, from the media to the government, is concerned to know why the workers' fury exploded in this manner? It is noteworthy that the long struggle waged by the workers last year from June to October witnessed no incident of violence that could be attributed to the workers. The workers had occupied the factory for 13 days in June 2011, they camped for 33 days outside the factory in September and in October again many parts of the plant were taken over by the workers. Despite provocations and instigations from the management no incidence of violence occurred. Why did the same workers who had carried on a prolonged peaceful struggle turned violent this time? The picture becomes clear by taking into account the conditions prevailing in the Maruti Suzuki Manesar plant. That the management's intentions were not well-meaning was clear from the way in which the company management forced the workers into compromise last year through a combination of money power, government pressure and false promises and had effectively brought the union to an end by buying over the union leadership. They just wanted to end the strike to stop the huge losses in revenue but had no intention of meeting the demands of the workers. The turn of events in the last 9 months have proved this fact beyond doubt.

Despite repeated promises the management has been postponing the wage-revision issue through various excuses. Chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, RC Bhargava had announced that it would be done by March 2012 but it is still stuck in negotiations. There were some improvements in the inhuman workload and policy of deducting wages for petty issues but constant harassment of the workers had increased during the last few months. Misbehavior, bullying, use of abusive language and mental harassment of workers by supervisors and managers had become an order of the day. The management was subjecting the workers to mental harassment by finding petty faults in their work, changing work without reason, forced overtime, denying leave etc. Workers were forced to work in a hostile environment. This situation is prevalent in most automobile companies in the Gurgaon region. Apart from economic exploitation the workers are coerced and abused by managers, supervisors and goons hired as security personnel. Now, big companies like Maruti have also started using these techniques. The incident of 18th July was also sparked off with the workers complaining against delays in wage revision despite skyrocketing prices. With the management paying no attention to the demands of the workers the situation was fuelled by a supervisor abusing a worker which became even worse when the management called in bouncers from outside to attack the workers. It provoked the workers even more. The primary responsibility for the violent turn of the events lies with the management. The death of a manager in this incident a most unfortunate outcome but it is a conspiracy to put the blame squarely on the workers. The bourgeois media is crying at the huge losses the company will suffer but the crisis forced upon the workers is not even mentioned anywhere. The police has unleashed a reign of terror on the workers forcing them to go into hiding. In their absence the police is bullying and persecuting their families and acquaintances. The management has made its actual motives clear by expressing its intentions of derecognising the union. Ever since the first struggle last year, Bigul Mazdoor Dasta has repeatedly appealed to the Maruti workers to make the struggle widespread, only then can it be fought forcefully. The government of Haryana which is leaving no stone unturned to showcase the state as investment friendly has shown its anti-worker character time and again, be it the barbaric repression of Honda workers in 2006 or in the case of Maruti. We must also not forget that on a global scale there is a wave of snatching away the the rights and benefits of the workers one by one and the workers in various countries are coming out on the streets against these attempts. Comrades, the struggle of Maruti workers is the struggle of each and every worker. We must come forward in support of Maruti workers. We know from our experience that unless all workers of a region come forward to support each-other, individual factory-based struggles can not be won by the workers of that factory alone. If we unite in struggle, we shall surely win!

The days of darkness will come to an end, the one who fights shall win! Against every oppression, struggle is our slogan!
With revolutionary greetings,

Bigul Mazdoor Dasta

Contacts: Phone: 9910462009, 9213639072; E-mail: bigul@rediffmail.com Translation by: Citizens Front in Support of the Maruti Suzuki Workers' Struggle
21 July 2012