A major Indian trade union grouping is pointing the finger of blame for the recent massive violence that rocked Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant squarely at management, accusing it of treating workers “like cattle”.
Insisting discontent had been brewing at the north India plant for “more than a year”, the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) made its views plain following a meeting of up to 35 Indian labour bodies this weekend.
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Although Maruti Suzuki was not immediately available for comment, it also appears the continued lock-out at the Manesar plant, around 30km (20 miles) from the Indian capital, is leading the automaker to ask suppliers to slow down component shipping as about 4,000 workers remain at home.
“The culpability of what happened at Manesar rests with the Maruti Suzuki management,” NTUI national secretary, Gautam Mody, told just-auto from Delhi. “What they have shown – not just in one afternoon but over 12 months – is an inability to manage a factory the size of Maruti that employs several thousand workers.
“They have systemically undermined industrial peace and treated their workers like cattle – Maruti failed to heed the discontent of their workers – it has been brewing for more than a year.”
Reports in India indicate the factory gates may remain locked until mid-August with suppliers asked to halt delivery while damage assessment is carried out.
It appears the initial dispute that spilled over into the eventual arson attack was the result of boiling resentment at the lack of union representation at the plant – a situation the NTUI again places firmly at the feet of Maruti management.
“Workers want to negotiate through the unions of their choice – that is something enshrined in the constitution of this country,” said Mody. “That has been undermined also by the state government of Haryana – there is no denying the state government is in cahoots with Maruti Suzuki.
Part of that resentment also appears to be the way Indian companies use contract workers and, with the NTUI saying 3,100 of Manesar’s 4,000 employees are temporary [aka contract], it claims the automaker is attemptiong to drive a wedge between the two categories of workers who, many claim, earn vastly differing levels of wages.
Maruti last week told just-auto it would no longer hire contract workers until next year as the blame game for the violence, which left the human resources manager dead and a hundred staff hospitalised, continues.
“They [management] set out to bust the unions and unity of the workers,” said Mody. “They have refused to negotiate for months on end.
“It has involved an attempt to break the unity between regular workers and contract workers – a task the management failed.”
The NTUI will stage a demonstration on 13 August – along with many other Indian trade unions – demanding the Manesar lock-out be ended and wages be paid for July.
Maruti was not answering phone calls but it appears the lack of wages for last month is also a strong bone of contention as nearly 4,000 workers remain at home, although any lack of payment cannot as yet be verified.
“The wages are extremely low in most parts of Indian manufacturing,” said Mody. “But what is of equal concern is the exploitation of conditions and the intensity of work which stands out in the automobile industry.”
Manesar produces the Swift [hatchback] and Dzire [sedan] models for which the order backlog currently stands at 100,000 with a waiting period per vehicle of up to five months.
The Haryana government is meanwhile playing down suggestions Maruti could move its troubled north India operations to West Bengal, according to local media reports.
