"At least 2 million workers work in hundreds of units situated in the vast industrial belt in and around Gurgaon.

There are around

1 million workers work in the units of automobile industry alone. These workers who produce auto parts for companies from all
over the world in modern factories have to work in very bad conditions. More than 90 percent of these are contract workers who
work for 10-12 hours for 4000-5000 per month. The workload and speed is extremely high and they have to face verbal abuse
and even beatings by the supervisors and security guards. Most of the factories do not have unions and where the workers have
managed to form a union, they have to face constant harassment. The established big unions do nothing except paying lip
service to the issues and in many cases have ditched the workers in favour of the management. In this scenario, the issue of the
right to form a union is a common and universal issue in the Gurgaon industrial belt.

The pamphlet distributed by the Bigul Mazdoor Dasta says that not only the workers of Maruti Suzuki but workers all over the
country are being denied the right to form their unions so that they can raise their voice unitedly against their exploitation. Thats
why the demands of Maruti workers find resonance across the region.

Further material in www.outlookindia.com | Lockdown And After goes on like this and gives a balanced perspective.All other
views were mostly supporting the Management.

"In many ways, the 13-day strike at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Indias largest automobile manufacturer, was a wake-up call for the
Indian corporate sector. Not only did it illustrate the unity among the companys workers, but with workers and unions across
states voicing support, it threatened to flare up into a wider industrial dispute, giving strong signals of a resurgence of trade
union activity in the country.

It wasnt a wage hike or improvement in working conditions but the right to form a unionsomething of a rarity in the new
industrial ecosystem in Indiawhich saw 3,000 employees of Marutis Manesar plant in Haryana striking work on June 3. The
plant workers wanted to register a new unionthe Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU)and had already applied for
registration, something the management was opposed to. Maruti officials were not available for comments when contacted.





Managements do not want to have unions. They want to make the unions subservient to their interests.Gurudas Dasgupta,
CPI



Union activities of yore, like the long-drawn Bombay textile strike in the 1980s, had of late seemed a thing of the past. In the last
decade or so, due to new management practices of hiring employees on contract and not putting them on the rolls, the number
of industrial disputes and strikes in the manufacturing sector had scaled down from around 250 in 2004-05 to under 100 in
2010. In 2011, this has been the only major strike so far.

Labour leaders contend the lack of union activity in the industrial sector is because of large-scale suppression of labour rights
and union voices. Says Gurudas Dasgupta, general secretary of the CPI-supported AITUC, Managements do not want to have
unions. They want to make the unions subservient to their interests and compel the workers to be part of a union controlled by
them.

Adds Dipankar Mukherjee, secretary, CITU, Post-1991, all companies, be they mncs or Indian, have not wanted unions to be
formed. Its a pattern among new companies also, they either do not want unions or have pocket unions who support the
management.

The fact that incidents of flash strikes or even violent attacks on members of the management have not yet dissipated is
testimony to the fact that all is not well on the labour front. The corporate sector, however, disagrees with this view, contending
that best management practices are being followed. As Y.K. Modi, chairman and CEO of the Great Eastern Energy Corporation
and a former FICCI president, puts it, The very fact that industries everywhere are generally having uninterrupted activity
without labour trouble illustrates that there have been good practices mostly. Since the issue at Manesar was amicably settled
through discussion, theres no reason to react on this matter.... I do not see the emergence of an era of nationwide militant trade
unionism.

The fact that 65 unions in the nearby industrial belts of Noida, Dharuhera, Manesar and Gurgaon had voiced their support and
about one lakh workers from 50-odd industrial units in these areas had decided to go on fast last Friday reflects a different
workers perspective. Interestingly, many of these companies are associated with the automobile industry.





Nations are competing against each other for market dominance. Any disturbance affecting productivity is bad.Y.K. Modi Ex-
FICCI president



Although the strike at Maruti has been called off and the matter resolved for the time being, there are hushed discussions across
companies on the way managements handle workers and trade union issues. Says BMS spokesperson Amar Nath Dogra, A
strike is not the first but the last option for workers. If it happened, it was because there were issues with the way the
management dealt with workers demands. There is a mechanism where workers and management recognise unions and
decisions are taken with mutual discussion. We are concerned about the way the company handled the situation.

Experts stress that the trend of hiring workers on contract rather than taking them in as permanent employees gives company
managements the right to hire and fire on issues of performance or in times of recession, something not easy in case of
permanent employees under Indian laws. According to rough estimates, over 50 per cent of workers in most of the large
companies are on contract and do not have rights to join unions or can only join one that is recognised, even suggested, by the
management.

The general view among workers is that managements cannot dictate which unions workers should get affiliated to as it is their
right to register or join a union. Says Mukherjee, Employees have the right to form unions. Labour laws do not give
managements the right to dictate which union the workers should join or what their political leanings should be.

The demand for a new union at Marutis Manesar unit may be a signal of discontent amongst workers regarding management
practices and their own rights and the lack of a redressal mechanism. Coen Kompier, labour standards specialist with the
International Labour Organisation (ILO), says, In general and compared to many other countries, the industrial relations system
in India is very confrontational, which harms the interests of all parties.... A new era in the trade union movement will happen
only if unions can operate in full freedom.




The employers havent acted intelligently here. Their actions harmed Marutis productivity, says ILOs Kompier.



The CPIs Dasgupta remains optimistic that the Maruti strike will open up the scope of the trade union movement and will work
towards unity of workers and inspire them in future. Given the fact that the 13-day strike led to production losses of over 12,000
cars and business losses of over Rs 400 crore, the corporate sector obviously has a different view. One which is strengthened
by the fact that apart from Maruti, vendors and companies associated with it also suffered significant losses. Industrial disputes
anywhere are bad. These cause losses for both workers and investors. Consumers too face problems. All nations are
competing against each other for market dominance. Any disturbance affecting productivity is bad, points out Modi.

So whats the way forward for companies and workers? Modi feels there must be more effective utilisation of industrial dispute
resolutions as contained in the ILO governing council resolution on tripartite consultation convention 1976, a part of the ILO Plan
of Action 2010-16.

Considering that neither the BJP-led NDA government nor the Congress-led UPA one has shown any political will to pursue
labour reforms, including ensuring that workers (whether permanent or contractual) are given their legal dues, it may finally fall
on the workers and union leaders to chart their own course. Unless, of course, the government wakes up to the need to strike
an equitable balance. "