All posts tagged Manesar

Maruti Suzuki :Ignition Trouble And After


Outlook Magazine  | May 13, 2013

 

Panini Anand
Court time Maruti hands being brought for a hearing
labour: maruti
Ignition Trouble And After
Jail, families thrown into trauma, grim future: the sacked Maruti labourers still harried
Cruel figures
  • 1 death in Maruti’s Manesar plant, of its HR manager Awanish Kumar Dev in July 2012, which led to a one-month lockout.
  • 66 workers on the run; in all, numerous cases have been filed against more than 200 workers at the Manesar plant
  • 147 workers lodged in Bhondsi jail, Gurgaon, for the past 9 months, named in up to 12 charges of murder
  • 550 permanent workers “suspended” by Maruti; 400 of them are agitating for jobs and an impartial probe.
  • 2100 sacked contract workers, many unemployed, have been forced to hide their connection to Maruti

***

The Hammer Strikes

  • Hearings have just begun on the framing of charges in the Gurgaon session court
  • Statement of officers recorded in charge sheet, but no versions of workers
  • Two counter complaints from workers have named 17 officials of Maruti
  • Maruti seeking to dismiss 550 suspended workers from the Labour tribunal
  • New committee of disgruntled former workers in initial talks with Maruti

***

“Are you from Maruti, or the state police department?” asks a visibly frightened lady when we knock at the door of her house in Dhakal village, Jind district, Haryana. She’s Omi Devi, mother of Jiyalal, a 27-year-old ITI dipl­oma-holder and employee at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant till the horrific incidents of July 18, 2012. That day, an argument Jiyalal had (over a caste slur) with his supervisor is said to have been the trigger for the cataclysmic events that followed—worker protests turned violent, leading to the death of an HR manager Awanish Kumar Dev, sending 100 workers and officials to hospital and enforcing a month-long lockout.

For nine months now, Jiyalal—and 146 former Maruti workers—have been lodged in Bhondsi Jail of Gurgaon. “The only mistake my son made was to speak out against the abusive language and casteist remarks. Tell me, is it wrong to stand up against such humiliation?” asks Ram Pal, his 50-year-old father. Jiyalal was supporting a family of eight—which is still in a state of shock. Aman, his 15-month-old son, has no memories of his father; his wife Sonia still looks scared, and Omi Devi keeps on crying. “Once my son is out from the jail, I will never ever let him go to work in such inhuman companies.”

That might take a while—the human cost of this labour incident has been staggering and disproportionate to the one death. After all, 12 charges of murder and more (rioting with weapons, attempt to murder, unlawful assembly, and so on) have been imposed on 147 workers. FIRs have been lodged against another 66, who are on the run. Some 400 terminated workers are protesting in Haryana, seeking their rights and entitlements from Maruti Suzuki. And over 2,000 former contract and apprentice workers at the plant are trying to rebuild their lives in fear and anonymity.

Through their relatives, the workers in jail insist that they are not being treated fairly and that the “real conspirators and culprits are blaming the innocents”. The stories from behind the bars are depressing—of pregnant wives, ailing parents, starving families, malnourished children, debts and loans. “All requests of bail plea or the parole custody plea have so far been rejected. The situations at our homes are worsening day by day. We knocked at many doors—from the prime minister’s to those of local politicians—but nobody hears the pain of the poor,”  an accused worker told Outlook.

About a year back, violence broke out at Maruti’s plant in Gurgaon. Workers arrested then still see no hope ahead.

All this matters now because the hearings in the case in the sessions court, Gurgaon, began on May 1 (Labour Day, incidentally). The chargesheet, exceeding 400 pages, has been filed but workers and their counsel have declared it incomplete. “The challans have been given to us, but there’s no list of witnesses. They’ve given the pretext that it’s unsafe to disclose the names. And workers’ acc­o­unts have not been taken into consideration at all. Only statements by Maruti officials have been taken,” says Rohtak-based senior advocate Randeep S. Huda, who is representing these workers. After an argument over the chargesheet, the sessions court ordered  public prosecutor K.T.S. Tulsi to provide all documents to the workers’  counsel.Despite repeated requests, Maruti did not respond to a questionnaire from Outlook. Recently, the company appointed two top Japanese managers to tackle the HR and production facilities at the Manesar plant. Since the incident, the company has also raised wages for contract workers at the Manesar plant—a key demand behind the workers’ initial agitation.


Far away Jiyalal’s wife holds up his photo. (Photograph by Sanjay Rawat)

Also, of the 540 dismissed permanent workers of Maruti’s Manesar plant, 400 come from Haryana itself. Two districts—Jind (150 workers) and Kaithal (120 workers)—make up the maximum numbers. The terminated workers are sitting on an agitation at the district commissioner’s complex in Kaithal. Recently, they had a small victory: talks with the Maruti management in the last week of April, first since the incident in July 2012. Further talks had been sch­eduled for the first week of May.

The terminated workers are dem­anding an independent inquiry into the nine-month-old incident. When Outlook  visited the district collector’s complex in Kaithal, it found a clutch of workers, most of them in their 20s, eating, reading newspapers and discussing strategy (some of them had gone back to the villages for harvesting). “We started our agitation in Kaithal because Randeep Singh Surjewala, the minister of commerce and industries in Haryana, is from this place. Moreover, we have a base and big public support in this area. It has been more than a month and we have no money to go on with the protest. But villagers, people from the city and nearby areas are providing us food and other essential support,” says Katar Singh, member of the Provisional Committee of Sacked Maruti Workers.

It’s not easy: a new seven-member committee was formed in August last year. Two members of this committee are named in another FIR that has been lodged by the Maruti management; one of them has since been arrested, another is underground. Initially, the protest started in March outside the residence of Surjewala, but they were forced to leave. They then went to meet Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, who is from Hissar, in  Haryana. But despite their meeting him 13 times, he didn’t speak a word for them. Now they are prepared to fight on their own. Sitting below a photo of Bhagat Singh and a next to a CD player belting out revolutionary songs, Bharat Kumar, one of the agitators, spews bitterness: “We always looked towards Maruti as a home but they (the management) never accepted the workers as family members.”

Yashvir Malik, 26, is one of the workers sitting in protest in Kaithal. He comes from Sudkain Khurd, a border village between Jind and Kaithal districts. His father, Ram Kumar, is a farmer with a landholding of some 1.25 acres and heavily in debt. “Yashvir is our only hope for all that we need at this age. I have no work; one leg is weak after a bad accident. My wife, too, suffers from age-related problems, anxiety. But now my only son is jobless—who will marry him? See what they have done to us,” says Ram Kumar.

Maruti workers who lost their jobs protest outside the district collector’s office in Kaithal, Haryana.

Yashvir’s family—and other villagers—are firm on fighting for the rights of these youth from their area. Yashvir’s family comes from Malik khap—the biggest khap of Haryana. When asked about the Gurgaon khaps supporting Maruti’s management, Ram Kumar says, “Gurgaon is not Haryana. The politics of Haryana is decided more from our and nearby districts. The khaps there are looking to their own interests and they are speaking the same language as our chief minister, but this is not going to help them.” It’s evident that the workers are lobbying with khaps and other social, political forces to ensure pressure is put on the state government and the Maruti Suzuki management.It’s also clear that the agitating workers are feeling let down by the lack of support for their cause. “Mainstream parties from the state and the nation have not even issued any statement on the issue. The chief minister of the state is continuously defending the Maruti management and blaming the workers. It seems that the representatives are sold out. Instead of ensuring fair and accountable governance in the state and implementation of labour rights, they are blaming the victims of the capitalism,” says Huda.

Even those who have managed to find jobs are not finding it easy to adjust to the fear around their past. Another worker Sanjay (name changed)—who was a contract worker in the Manesar plant and has no charges against him in this case—now works for a manufacturing unit in Gurgaon. “It was my first job at Maruti but I can’t tell anyone about it. If I had done so, it would have been impossible to get this job. I don’t want my new company to harass me, managers to distrust me and police to embarrass me without any reason,” says Sanjay, adding that “my present job is my first job now”. Not everyone among the 2,100 contract and apprentice workers is as lucky as Sanjay—many of them are still struggling to find jobs. The ones who have managed to do so are working for less than the minimum wages for unskilled labour.

The workers in jail have filed two counter cases against 17 Maruti Suzuki officials. The complaint by Jiyalal is pending in the court—if cleared, it might send some Maruti officials to jail under laws against inflicting atrocities upon SC/STs. In the first round of talks between workers and the management, Maruti officials insisted that workers should take back their counter complaints. In return, the workers asked the management to take them back, get innocent workers released and enforce a fair enquiry into the case. Both sides say that talks were “productive”—but it is starkly evident who is in control in this battle of unequals.
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by kracktivist on May 10, 2013  •  Permalink
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Maruti Suzuki Workers Union pamphlet on the occasion of May day


April 30, 2013

[Note from Maruti Suzuki Workers Union : We are currently on an indefinite dharna in Kaithal, Haryana since 24 March 2013, which included an 8-day Hunger Strike, and will continue until our demands are met. Please join us, in large numbers on 8th May 2013 in Kaithal (in front of the D.C. Office) for a program and rally to take the struggle forward.]

sitin2

Make Stronger the Unity of the Workers of Gurgaon-Manesar-Dharuhera-Bawal and the Toiling Masses of Haryana !

On the occasion of May Day, take the pledge to challenge the attack of the Capitalists and the Government which serves their interests !

Friends and Comrades,

Our experiences in struggle since 4th June 2011 provide us with the realization of a renewed importance of May Day and its glorious history. Moulded and tempered in the hearth of the struggle against exploitation and repression, the meaning of this history confronts us with an immediacy and concreteness today.

Exploitation and unceasing exploitation, struggle and repression: what all have we not witnessed during the space of these two years! On the strength of our unity and the solidarity of the workers of the industrial belt of Gurgaon-Manesar, after three phases of strike actions in 2011, we finally formed our Union in March 2012. This expression of our collective strength was unbearable to the management of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Manesar and the state administration, who, to break this unity, as part of the conspiracy of 18th July 2012, declared us to be mindless criminals and terminated the jobs of 546 permanent and around 1800 contract workers. Along with this, 147 of our innocent fellow workers were thrown into jail, who continue to languish there, while non-bailable arrest warrants were thrust on 66 of us. An atmosphere of terror through continuous police repression and administrative intransigence firmly on side of the company management has been hounding us ever since. When we look at the horrible exploitative conditions of work of our fellow workers inside the factory today, the rationale behind the lies and fabrications of the company’s narrative around 18th July 2012 become clear to us. The workers working inside the factory today are bereft of all the rights that we won during the first phase of our struggle. Fewer workers than earlier toil harder than before. When even as much as an inkling of a renewed attempt to raise our voice, to establish our Union inside the factory came, 13 of the more active workers were promptly transferred to various corners of the country, and the attempt crushed there itself. So much for ‘everything’s under control’ in the Maruti’s ‘way of life’!

In this entire chain of events, rather than protect the rights of workers, we’ve found that the Government of Haryana has stood firmly on the side of the labour law-flouting, exploitative and illegal mechanisms of the Maruti company management. These ministers who make thousands of false promises just before the elections, have told us on many occasions that they cannot go against the ‘interest’ of the company. Without any impartial investigation, they declared us to be guilty and convicted. Thousands of policemen were posted to hound and repress our peaceful struggle. In order to ensure that our demands for our democratic rights do not reach the broader working masses of industrial belt in other factories, for the last nine months, the Haryana administration has effectively banned all dharnas and rallies in the Manesar area. They have even arrested some of our comrades for the ‘crime’ of distributing pamphlets with demands of workers! Our legitimate demands are such an eye sore to the Haryana government, that they did not give permission to hold even a dharna in front of the office of the Gurgaon D.C., and even our ongoing dharna in front of residence of Industries Minister, R.S. Surjewala in Kaithal has been sought to be crushed through various mechanisms.

In the light of the challenges that we faced in these last two years, when we remember the legacy of May Day, we feel an iron resolve in our hearts to take the struggle to its logical direction. On 1st May 1886, 80000 workers in Chicago had taken to the streets with the demand of an 8-hour working day, establishing the firm legacy of May Day. After this, the working class movement gained many successes. Even after this long militant history, today we find the larger section of the workers toiling day and night on 12-16 hour shifts under the vise-like grip of the illegal contract worker system. Workers are pitched against each other under the pain of unemployment, and the broad working masses find their lives deteriorating by the day for the profit of a handful of capitalists. To break the vicious cycle of capitalist exploitation, our previous generations have left us a strong legacy of militant struggle. Today when the capitalist regime and the government which is hand-in-glove with it, is making an all-out effort to snatch the gains of this legacy, we have to assume serious responsibility and resolve to protect these gains and take forward the workers movement with its new challenges.

During the space of our struggle, we have witnessed how the owners disregard and actively fight against our legitimate rights, even against the fundamental right to freedom of association and formation of Union to all others. Our movement has had two primary demands – the right to organize and complete abolition of the illegal contract worker system. Both these demands are well within the ambit of our Constitutional rights, but not only the company management, but even the media and the government which stands on the basis of the Constitution has continuously tried to suppress this. After the formation of our Union in March 2012, the Maruti company management flatly refused to even negotiate on our demand of regularizing contract workers in our Charter of Demands. The owners cannot tolerate the unity of permanent and contract workers. While the contract worker system has on the one hand become the principal basis of profit extraction from the cheap, insecure labour for capitalists today, it is at the same time becoming the main reason of the miserable conditions of workers in the country and worldwide. This is the main weapon in the hands of the capitalists to divide the workers movement. We can only face this by generalizing our unity and make our struggle against the segmentation between permanent and contract workers more resolute. We have learnt this lesson from our struggle.

Comrades, May Day is the celebration of the collective power arising from the unity of workers! But this unity is today in a precarious condition and we are faced with many difficulties while confronting this task of rebuilding our unity. The ever-worsening conditions of work and life are being responded to by the eruption of anger and unrest by workers all over the country. Despite the emergence of these mostly spontaneous bursts of anger, we feel that an able and responsible leadership organically linked with these aspirations and with the correct direction, is lacking which can take these agitations to the logical militant direction that they demand. To establish the unity of permanent and contract workers, a lot still requires to be done. While in the last phase we have witnessed the formation of Unions in some factories here and there, there remains a glaring need to form an even stronger unity among workers across various factories. Owing to these problems, even struggles which are militant in their initial phase, face disappointment and are forced to come to a compromise. Today, the Gurgaon-Manesar-Dharuhera-Bawal industrial area is among the main centers of industrial production in the country. The working masses here have had experiences of many big movements in the area. In this scenario, it is important that we imbibe the knowledge gleaned in these struggles and make an uncompromising attempt to seek out solutions to the challenges we face, and also take it forward to the working masses of the entire country. Any exploitation of workers anywhere is an attack on the entire workers movement. To build up a concrete militant unity against this, is our primary aim. We want to place this task before the working class of the entire country today on the occasion of May Day, and pledge ourselves completely to work towards this aim.

Inquilab Zindabad! Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad!

MARUTI SUZUKI WORKERS UNION

Released by the Provisional Working Committee, MSWU, Manesar, Gurgaon

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PRESS RELEASE-Letter from Jail: Maruti Suzuki Workers Union ( English and Hindi )


March 27, 2013, http://marutisuzukiworkersunion.wordpress.com/

Guest Post by MARUTI SUZUKI WORKERS UNION
(Reg. No. 1923, IMT Manesar)

Appeal from Jail
Stand in Solidarity with us for Justice

We are workers of Maruti Suzuki, who are behind bars since 18.07.2012 as part of a conspiracy, and without any just investigation. 147 of us are inside Gurgaon Central Jail. Since July, 2500 permanent and contract workers have been terminated from our jobs. In these past more than 8 months, we have sent our appeal to almost all administrative officials and elected representatives, including Chief Minister Haryana and the Prime Minister of India. But neither have our appeals been heard nor have we been granted bail.

 

The Chargesheet filed by the Haryana police in the Court has no names of any witnesses, and hence is incomplete. This is only a glimpse of the continuous attack on our democratic rights on arbitrary grounds, and we see how law is bent towards siding with company owners. Many of our fellow workers are without parents or guardians, and have been shouldering the entire burden of the household. Many workers’ wives were pregnant when we were put behind bars. And even when the time of their delivery came, the workers were not granted bail, or even parole custody. We do not know under what circumstances their deliveries took place. We give a few instances:

1. One of our fellow workers, Sumit s/o Late Shri Chattar Singh, has no one in the family except his wife. Even then, when she gave delivery on 6.12.2012 in a hospital in Gurgaon, the bail plea or parole custody plea of Sumit was rejected.

2. One of our fellow workers, Vijendra s/o Dalel Singh was the lone earning member in his family. His mother stays sick at most times and was not able to accompany or help her daughter-in-law when she gave her delivery on 10.01.2013 in a hospital in Jhajjhar. Even then, Vijendra was neither granted bail nor let off on parole.

3. In the case of one of our fellow workers, Ramvilas s/o Late Shri Silak Ram, his grandmother, who fell sick after Ramvilas was put behind the bars as he was too affectionate to her, passed away on 26.02.2013. Ramvilas was not even let off on parole to meet his grandmother on her death-bed or to attend the funeral. After few days when it was the time of his wife’s delivery, his request for bail or parole custody was turned down. It caused a mental shock to him.

4. One of our fellow workers, Prempal, s/o Shri Chhiddilal, had the responsibility to look after his family alone, as his family’s livelihood depended entirely depended on his earnings. When he was thrown into jail arbitrarily, his two years old daughter mourning her father’s absence, fell sick and breathed her last. This wound was yet to heal, when Prempal’s mother aggrieved by the imprisonment of her son and the death of her granddaughter fell sick and passed away. But even after this, Prempal’s meager one-week parole leave permission was rejected and he was allowed only a one-hour parole visit on the next day of his grandmother’s funeral. His wife, now alone in the house and mourning the death of her daughter and Prempal’s mother, fell sick and had to be hospitalized. She is still unwell and there is no one to look after her. It has caused terrible mental agony for Prempal.

5. One of our fellow workers, Rahul, s/o Shri Vinod Ratan, was the only son of his parents, along with a sister. His sister got married on 16.11.2012. But he was not even granted parole custody to attend the ceremony for kanyadan. The marriage of the sole daughter took place in an environment of sadness, and Rahul is yet to recover from this wound.

6. One of our fellow workers, Subhash, s/o Shri Lal Chand, was very close to his grandmother. After his imprisonment, his grandmother almost stopped taking food and all the time used to think of his grandson, and passed away in grief some days later. But Subhash was not allowed even to attend her funeral on parole custody.

These and many other incidents that go on daily in our lives are enough to fill up the pages of an entire book.

About ourselves: our identity, family and work

We all are children of workers and peasants. Our parents, with huge effort and sacrifice, ensured our 10th standard, 12th standard or ITI education, helped us stand on our feet to do something worthy in our life and help our family in need.

We all joined Maruti Suzuki company after passing the written and viva-voce tests conducted by the company and on the terms and conditions set by the company. Before our joining, the company carried out all kinds of investigations, like police verification of our residential proof or whether we had criminal records! Neither of us had any previous criminal record.

When we joined the company, the Manesar plant of the company was under construction. At that stage we foreseeing our future with the progress of the plant invested huge energy and diligence to lift the Manesar plant of the company to a new height. When the entire world was struggling under the economic crisis, we worked extra two hours daily to materialize a production of 10.5 lakh cars in a year. We were the sole creators of the increasing profit of the company, and today we are implicated as criminals and murderers, and those who engage in ‘mindless arson’!

Almost all of us are from poor worker or peasant families which has been dependent on our job. We were struggling to weave dreams for our and our family’s future, such as of our own homes, of the better education for our brothers-sisters and children so that they could have a bright future and ensure a comfortable life for their parents who took the pain to bring after them.

But in return, we were being exploited inside the company in all possible ways, such as:

1. At work, if any worker was unwell, he was not allowed to go to the dispensary and was forced to continue with the work in that condition.

2. We were not allowed to go to the toilet, the permission was there only at tea or lunch time.

3. Management used to behave with the workers very rudely with abusive language, and used to even slap or make them murga in order to punish them.

4. If a worker was forced to take 3-4 days leave because of his ill health or some accident or other serious problem in his family or because of the death of a relative, then half of his salary which amounted to almost Rs. 9000 used to be deducted by the company.

Because of this continuous exploitation, the workers felt the need of forming a Union. Maruti Suzuki company was against the idea of a union, and because of that, three strikes of the workers took place in 2011. After the third strike, thirty fellow workers of ours were forced to resign as they had participated in the strikes. But at last in February 2012 we were successful in registering our Union, in which the then HR Manager, Late Shri Awanish Kumar Dev, helped us. The company was angry with Mr. Dev because of his helpful attitude towards us and as a result, Mr. Dev resigned from the company. But the company did not accept the resignation of him as they were afraid that their misdeeds could get exposed. To crush the union and to remove Mr. Dev from its way, the company with a previously chalked out plan called the bouncers and hooligans in the factory premises on 18th July 2012 and materialized the ‘accident’.

The present situation of the workers inside the Jail

We, 147 workers in total, were thrown behind the bars without any just enquiry, and we are now here for more than 8 months. We are under severe psychological stress inside the jail. Many of us are suffering from diseases like tuberculosis, piles, mental imbalance and several other diseases.

Almost all of us were earning members in our family and we are in jail now. Due to this our families are approaching the situation of dying of hunger. The education of the female members of the family and the children have stopped, which are otherwise their fundamental rights. The future of ours and our families has plunged into darkness. All the members of our families are mentally too disturbed. We are afraid lest they not take any wrong step because of the mental pressure.

The present situation of the terminated workers outside the jail

Apart from putting 147 workers behind the bars, the company terminated the service of almost 2500 regular and contract workers without any domestic enquiry and these workers are unemployed now. The condition of their families is also very serious. The situation is that they don’t have any proof of work experience, their career is doomed and whoever of them comes forward in our support, he is arrested and jailed immediately (the arrest of Imaan Khan, who was a member of Provisional Working Committee of MSWU and whose name was not there in the FIR, Charge-sheet or SIT report; also the names of 65 workers are under non-bailable arrest warrants). None of the jailed workers or the terminated workers outside have any occupation to sustain the livelihood of people dependent on them and it is putting everyone under mental pressure. Still, against all these odds, the struggle for justice of our fellow workers outside is giving us hope and energy behind the bars. In this struggle that has gone outside the factory in society now for more than 8 months, news of the solidarity that we have received from various parts of the country from workers, toilers and common people has continued to give us hope, and enthused our spirits.

There is no door of any elected representative that we have not knocked in the space of these 8 months. We’ve taken our appeal for justice from the State Industries minister to the Chief Minister, but the government is bent backwards in trying to take side with the company management and owners rather than listen to us workers. We appeal to the government for the last time, that before we are forced into a situation of committing suicide or killing others, we are given justice which is due to us.

We hope to have your solidarity and your opinion.

Maruti Suzuki Workers Union

(The entire Union body of MSWU is behind the bars of Gurgaon Central Jail, where a total of 147 workers continue to languish without any justice, or even bail. This letter of appeal has been sent from there.)

अपील (जेल की बंद दीवारों से)
न्याय के लिए हमारे समर्थन में खड़े हों

मारुति सुजुकी वर्कर्स यूनियन
(रजि. नॉ. 1923, IMT मानेसर)

 

हम मारुति सुजुकी के वो मजदूर है जिनको 18-7-2012 की दुर्घटना का इल्जाम लगाकर बिना किसी न्यायिक जांच के जेल में डाल दिया गया हैं. हम 147 मजदूर अभी भी गुडगाँव सेंट्रल जेल के सलाखों के पीछे बंध हैं. जुलाई के बाद लगभग 2500 पक्के और कच्चे कर्मचारियों को नौकरी से निकाल दिया गया. पिछले 8 महीनों से हम हरियाणा और केन्द्रीय सरकार के बहुत सारे उच्च अधिकारियों, हरियाणा राज्य के मुख्यमंत्री और देश के प्रधानमंत्री जी को भी कई बार अपील कर चुके हैं. लेकिन न तो हमारी कहीं सुनाई हो रही है, न ही हमें जमानत दी जा रही है. और तो और, जो हरियाणा पुलिस ने चार्जशीट कोर्ट में पेश की है, उसमें किसी गवाह का नाम नही है और वह आधी अधूरी है. हमारा लोकतान्त्रिक अधिकारो का हनन लगातार हो रहा हैं, और कानून को कंपनी मालिकों के स्वार्थ में व्यवहार किया जा रहा हैं. इस दौरान बहत से कर्मचारियों ने अपने परिवार के सदस्य के साथ-साथ बहत कुछ खो दिया है. काफी मजदूर ऐसे भी है जिनके माता-पिता नहीं हैं और पुरे परिवार का पालन पोषण का भार उन्ही पर है. काफी ऐसे भी साथी हैं, जब उन्हें जेल में डाला गया, तब उनकी पत्नियाँ गर्भवती थी. उनकी डिलीवरी के समय भी कर्मचारियों को न तो जमानत दी गयी, न ही पे-रोल पे छुट्टी दी गयी और न ही पे-रोल कस्टडी में ही भेजा गया. परिवार में अकेली होने के कारण व पति के जेल में होने के कारण, पता नहीं किन परिस्थितियों में उनकी डिलीवरी हुई है. इसके हम निचे कुछ उदाहरण प्रस्तुत कर रहे है:-

  1. हमारे एक साथी सुमित S/O स्वर्गीय श्री छत्तर सिंह के घर में सुमित और उनकी पत्नी के अलावा कोई अन्य पारिवारिक सदस्य नहीं है. लेकिन फिर भी दिनांक 6.12.2012 को उनकी पत्नी की डिलीवरी गुडगाँव के एक अस्पताल में हुई और उनकी देखभाल के लिए सुमित को कोई भी राहत प्रदान नहीं की गई.
  2. हमारे एक साथी विजेंद्र S/O स्वर्गीय श्री दलेल सिंह अपने परिवार का पालन पोषण करनेवाला अकेला सदस्य है. उसके घर में उसकी पत्नी व बिमार माँ है. उसकी पत्नी की डिलीवरी 10.01.2013 को झज्जर के एक अस्पताल में हुई. विजेंद्र के माँ के बिमार होने के कारण उसकी पत्नी कि डिलीवरी के समय देखभाल करनेवाला कोई नहीं था. लेकिन फिरभी विजेंद्र को पत्नी के देखभाल के लिए डिलीवरी के समय कोई राहत नहीं दी गई.
  3. हमारे साथी रामबिलास S/O स्वर्गीय श्री सीलक राम की दादीमा 26.02.2013 को रामबिलास के वियोग में बिमार हो कर स्वर्ग सिधार गई, क्योकि वह उसकी दादीमा का बहुत लाडला था. और तो और उसे दाह-संस्कार में सामिल होने या दादीमा के अंतिम दर्शन करने के लिए पेरोल कस्टडी में भी नहीं ले जाया गया. कुछ ही दिनों के बाद जब उसकी पत्नी कि डिलीवरी होनी थी तो उसकी जमानत या छुट्टी के लिए याचिका लगाई गई तब भी उसे कोई राहत नहीं दी गई. इससे उसके ऊपर बड़ा मानसिक आघात हुआ है.
  4. हमारे एक साथी प्रेमपाल S/O श्री छिद्दीलाल के उपर पुरे परिवार के पालन पोषण का भार है, वह जब जेल में आया था तब उसके परिवार की रोजी-रोटी उसी के बलबूते पर टिकी हुई थी. परन्तु उसके जेल में आने के बाद उसकी इकलौती बेटी जो मात्र दो साल की थी, जो अपने पापा के वियोग में बीमार होकर पापा-पापा करते हुए भगवान को प्यारी हो गई. ये जख्म अभी हरा ही था कि तभी कुछ दिन बाद प्रेमपाल की माँ बेटे के वियोग में व अपनी लाडली पोती के वियोग में बीमार होकर स्वर्ग सिधार गई. हद तो तब हो गई जब उसकी एक सप्ताह कि छुट्टी भी ख़ारिज कर दी गई व उसे मात्र एक घंटे के लिए दाह-संस्कार होने के अगले दिन पे-रोल कस्टडी में भेजा गया. जबकि गुडिया व माताजी के देहांत के दुःख में घर में अकेली उसकी पत्नी भी बीमार होने के कारण अस्पताल में दाखिल करवानी पड़ी जो अभी भी बिमार है तथा उसकी देखभाल करनेवाला कोई नहीं है. और इस कारण प्रेमपाल बहुत अधिक मानसिक दबाव में है.
  5. हमारे एक साथी राहुल S/O श्री विनोद रतन जो घर में अपने माँ-बाप का एक इकलौता बेटा है व उसकी एक ही बहन है. उसकी बहन कि शादी दिनांक 16.11.2012 को हुई. परन्तु उसे कस्टडी में भी अपनी बहन के शादी के कन्यादान के लिए नहीं भेजा गया जिसके कारण घर की इकलौती बेटी की शादी होते हुए भी घर में मातम जैसा माहौल रहा और राहुल मानसिक दबाव में है.
  6. हमारे एक साथी सुभाष S/O श्री लाल चंद जो कि अपनी दादीमा का बहुत लाडला था. जब वह जेल में आया तो उसके वियोग में उसके दादीमा खाना-पीना छोड़ दिया व कुछ दिन में ही अपने पोते को याद करते हुए स्वर्ग सिधार गई. परन्तु सुभाष को दाहसंस्कार या अंतिम दर्शन के लिए पे-रोल कस्टडी में भी नहीं भेजा गया.

ऐसी और कितनी ही दुख भरी घटनाएँ है जिन्हें लिखते लिखते एक पूरी किताब बन जाये !

हमारे बारे में: परिचय, परिवार, नौकरी

हम सभी किसान या मजदूरों के बच्चे हैं. माँ-बाप ने हमे बड़ी मेहनत से खून-पसीना एक करके 10वी-12वी या ITI शिक्षा दिलवाई व इस लायक बनाया कि इस जीवन में कुछ बन सके व अपने परिवार का सहारा बन सके.

हम सभी ने कंपनी द्वारा भर्ती प्रक्रिया में लिखित व् मौखिक परीक्षायों को पास करके व् कंपनी की जो जो भी नियम व शर्ते थी, उनपर खरे उतर कर मारुति कंपनी को ज्वाइन किया. जोइनिंग करने से पहले, कंपनी ने सभी प्रकार से हमारी जांच करवाई थी, जैसे- घर की थाने तहसील की व क्रीमिनल जांच करवाई गई थी! पिछले समय का हमारा कोई क्रिमिनल रिकार्ड नहीं हैं.

जब हमने कंपनी को ज्वाइन किया तब, कंपनी का मानेसर प्लांट निर्माणाधीन था. हमने अपने कड़ी मेहनत व लगन से अपने भविष्य को देखते हुए, कंपनी को एक नयी उचाई पर ले गए. जब पूरी दुनिया में आर्थिक मंदी छायी हुई थी, तब हमने प्रतिदिन दो घंटे एक्स्ट्रा टाइम देकर साल में 10.5 लाख गाड़ियों का निर्माण किया था. कंपनी की लगातार बढ़ते मुनाफा का हम ही पैदावार रहे हैं, जबकि आज हमे अपराधी और खूनी ठहराया जा रहा हैं.

हम लगभग सभी मजदूर गरीब मजदूर-किसान परिवारों से हैं जिनकी जीविका हमारी नौकरी पर ही निर्भर हैं. हमनें अपने व अपने परिवार के भविष्य के सपने बुन रखे थे, कि हमारा भी अपना घर होगा. भाई-बहन व बच्चो को अच्छी शिक्षा दिलाएंगे, ताकि उनका भविष्य भी उज्जवल हो सके व माता-पिता जिन्होंने इतने कष्ट उठाकर हमें इस लायक बनाया कि हम अपने पैरों पे खड़े हो सकें, उनका जीवन आरामदायक बनायेंगे.

कंपनी में हमारा हर प्रकार से शोषण हो रहा था, जैसे कि-

 

  1. किसीको भी तबियत ख़राब होने पर डिस्पेंसरी न जाने देना व बिमारी की हालत में भी पूरा काम करवाना.
  2. यहाँ तक कि टॉयलेट भी नहीं जाने दिया जाता था. केवल लांच या टि-टाइम में ही जाने दिया जाता था.
  3. अधिकारीयों का कर्मचारियों के साथ भद्दा व्यवहार व गालिया देना और कभी कभी तो दंड देने के लिए थप्पड़ मारना व मुर्गा बना देना.
  4. यदि किसी कर्मचारी के साथ या उसके परिवार के किसी सदस्य के साथ दुर्घटना या कोई समस्या होने पर या यहाँ तक की किसी सम्बन्धी की मृत्यु होने पर यदि कर्मचारी दो या चार दिन की छुट्टी लेता था, तो उसकी सेलरी का आधा भाग, लगभग नौ हज़ार रुपये काट लिया जाता था.

इस प्रकार शोषण के कारण कर्मचारियों को यूनियन कि जरूरत महसूस हुई. कंपनी यूनियन के खिलाफ थी, जिनके कारण हमारी साल 2011 में तीन हड़ताल हुई, जिसमे हमारे तीस साथियों को नौकरी से निकाल दिया गया. लेकिन आख़िरकार हमने फरवरी 2012 में यूनियन का रजि. करवाया, जिसमे हमारी मदद एच.आर. मैनेजर स्वर्गीय श्री अवनिश कुमार देव ने कि थी. हमारी मदद करने के कारण कंपनी देव जी से बहुत खफा हो गई थी, जिसके चलते देव जी ने नौकरी से अपना इस्तीफा दे दिया था. कंपनी ने पोल खुलने के डर से उनका इस्तीफा नामंजूर कर दिया था. यूनियन को तोडवाने व देव जी को रास्ते से हटाने के लिए एक योजनाबंध तरीके से बाउन्सरों व गुंडों को बुलाकर 18  जुलाई 2012 की ‘दुर्घटना’ को अंजाम दिया.

 

अब कि स्थिति

हम 147 मजदूरों को बिना किसी न्यायिक जाँच किये जेल में डाल दिया गया. हमारा जेल में बंध रहते 8 महीनें से ज्यादा समय हो चुका है. यहाँ जेल में हम बहुत मानसिक दबाव झेल रहे है. कई लोगों को टी. बी., पिलिया व किसीको दौरे पड़ रहे है. और बहुत सारे कर्मचारियों को अन्य काफी बिमारियों का सामना करना पड़ रहा है.

हमारे लगभग सभी परिवारों में कमाने वाले केवल हम थे जो जेल में बंध हैं. जिसके कारण परिवारों को भूखे मरने की नोबत आ गई है. औरोतों और बच्चों कि शिक्षा तक भी छुट गई है जो कि उनका मौलिक अधिकार है. हमारा और हमारे परिवार का भविष्य अंधकार हो गया है. हमारे परिवार के सभी सदस्य भी मानसिक तौर पर बहुत परेशान है. हमे डर हैं कि वो परेशानी के कारण कोई गलत कदम न उठाये.

 

जेल से बाहर कर्मचारियों कि मौजूदा स्थिति

147 कर्मचारियों को जेल में डालने के साथ साथ कंपनी ने लगभग 2500 कच्चे और पक्के कर्मचारियों की बिना किसी न्यायिक जाँच के नौकरी से निकाल दिया और वह बेरोजगार हो गए. उनकी परिवारों की  स्थिति भी गंभीर है. यहा तक कि उनके पास कोई एक्सपीरियंस डोकुमेंट प्रूफ नहीं है और उनका पूरा कैरियर बर्बाद हो चूका है और उनमे से जो भी कोई हमारी पैरवी करने के लिए आगे आता है, उसे भी उठाकर जेल में डाल दिया जाता है (जैसे साथी ईमान खान के साथ किया गया, जिसका नाम कोई एफ.आई.आर., चार्जशीट या एस.आई.टी. रपट में नहीं था; 65 मजदूरों के ऊपर अभी भी गैर-जमानती वारंट जारी हैं). जेल में बंध कर्मचारियों और बाहर बेरोजगार कर्मचारियों के पास अपनी जीविका चलाने का कोई भी साधन नहीं है, जिसके चलते सभी मानसिक दबाव में है. लेकिन इन हालातों के बीच भी जेल के बहार के हमारे साथी जो न्याय के लिए संघर्ष जारी रखे हैं, उससे हमे इन सलाखों के पीछे भी आशा और उर्जा मिलती हैं. आठ महीने के उपर चल रहे इस संघर्ष में हमे देश के अलग अलग प्रान्त से मजदूर, मेहनतकश और आम जनता के समर्थन के खबरे आती रही हैं, जो भी हमे उम्मीद देती रही हैं.

हम अपनी जाँच की मांगों को लेकर सरकार के लगभग सभी मंत्रियों से मिल चुके हैं. राज्य उद्योग मंत्री, मुख्यमंत्री से लेकर प्रधानमंत्री से भी न्याय की गुहार लगा चुके हैं, लेकिन सरकार हरियाणा के मजदूर-कर्मचारियों की बजाये कंपनी मालिकों की ही तरफ झुकी हुई है. हम अंतिम बार सरकार से अपील करते है कि मरने या मारने के इस मुकाम तक पहुचने से पहले हमारे साथ न्याय हों.

हमे आपकी समर्थन और राय कि जरुरत है. कृपया अपनी राय और सहायता दें !

 

मारुति सुजुकी वर्कर्स यूनियन

(MSWU यूनियन के पूरे पदाधिकारी गुडगाँव सेंट्रल जेल के अन्दर बंध हैं, जहा अभी भी 147 मजदूर बिना जांच या जमानत कैद हैं; यह अपील कि चिट्ठी वही से भेजा गया हैं.)

 

 

Contact: marutiworkerstruggle@gmail.com

 

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Maruti Suzuki won’t take back sacked workers


 , TNN | Dec 25, 2012
NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki has said it has no intention of taking back any of the 500-odd workers sacked for the July 18 carnage at its Manesar plant even as the Haryana Police has charged only around 150 workers.

Maruti chairman R C Bhargava has said that the company will not take them back as it has eyewitness accounts that all of them were involved in the July 18 rampage at Manesar, which left one senior manager dead and nearly 100 injured. “If people took part in violent activities, how do I take them back? They were part of the mob.”

The company went in for the mass layoffs after accumulating evidence against the workers. “It was done after a careful scrutiny. We have eyewitness accounts of our managers and supervisors who were attacked,” the company chairman said.

Maruti’s refusal to take back any of the fired staff is, however, objected to by the company’s labour union, which has been demanding the re-instatement of a majority , especially after they were not even named in the chargesheet filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the matter.

“While the fate of those named by the police in its chargesheet will be decided by the court, there is no logic of not taking back the others. We see them as innocent and demand that the company take them back immediately,” said Kuldeep Jhangu, the general secretary of the company’s Gurgaon plant union Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union (MUKU).

MUKU had also raised the matter with Suzuki chairman Osamu Suzuki when he had visited India in the aftermath of the incident. However, the company had not given any assurance on the matter.

Maruti Suzuki has also raised doubts over the findings of the SIT probe, which had said the violent events at the plant were not instigated from outside, but were due to internal issues between the management and workers.

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Press Release-Auto Workers convention @9dec #Delhi


MARUTI SUZUKI WORKERS UNION

Registration No. 1923

IMT Manesar

 

 

Press Release: 8 December 2012

As you know, we from Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU) have called for an Auto Workers CONVENTION on 9th December 2012 in Ambedkar Bhavan, Jhandewalan, New Delhi with common demands of auto workers in NCR industrial belt.

 

This program with our legitimate demands has been declared one week back, for which we have given due information for permission to the PMO and the Paharganj police station and have received copies of the same. But Haryana and Delhi government administration through the use of Police of both the states, along with CID Haryana has come down heavily on us for raising our legal and legitimate demands. They have denied us permission to hold the Convention in the evening today with the imagined reason that this will disrupt peace in the area. And since last two days, Haryana Police and CID has been calling on us and our parents and relatives to strongly threaten against holding this program and any such program in the future, or force will be used against us.

 

We condemn this direct attack on our democratic right guaranteed under the Indian Constitution by the joint forces of Haryana and Delhi government administration through the naked use of force in the service of the Maruti Suzuki management. And with what we have seen in the last four months, this is nothing new to us now, as the police and government administration have nakedly sided with the company management in their attempt to crush our voice of truth.

We appeal to all concerned with democratic rights and our just struggle to stand by us as we will go ahead with the declared program tomorrow and similar programs in the near future. Our fellow workers from across Gurgaon-Manesar-Dharuhera-Bawal-Noida-Faridabad-Ghaziabad industrial belt will join us and strengthen our struggle.

 

Condemning the police and administrative action against us, we reiterate our demands:

1. In the permanent nature of work in the auto sector in Gurgaon-Manesar-Dharuhera-Bawal-Faridabad-Noida-Ghaziabad industrial region, completely abolish the illegal contract worker system by the year 2013. Till they are not made permanent, all workers in the auto sector in this region should be given minimum wage of Rs.15,000.

2. All permanent workers in the auto sector must be given minimum wage of Rs.25000.

3. Unions must be formed in the auto belt industrial region. Within 45 days of application for registration of Trade Union, the concerned labour department must ensure the registration of the Trade Union with due process.

4. The High Court order in favour of workers of Eastern Medikit must be immediately implemented and the illegal lockout be ended. Take back all the workers of Eastern Medkit and ensure payment of due wages.

5. Along with all the 546 illegally terminated workers of Maruti Suzuki Manesar, all the contract workers must be immediately taken back to work.

6. All the arrested workers of Maruti Suzuki Manesar must be immediately released, the false cases withdrawn and stop the repression and torture of workers.

 

Sincere Regards,

Provisional Working Committee
MARUTI SUZUKI WORKERS UNION

 

Program details:
Date: 9 December 2012; 11am to 6pm.
Place: Ambedkar Bhavan, Panchkuiyan Road, near Jhandewalan Metro Station, New Delhi

 

Contact: Imaan Khan- 09467704883, Ramnivas- 08901127876, Omprakash-08607154232, Mahavir-09560564754,Yogesh- 08510043143, Katar Singh-09728778870, Rajpal- 09555425175

 

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Maruti Suzuki pleads inability to pay Rs 1,200 cr more for Manesar plant land to farmers


29 NOV, 2012, SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY,ET BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Maruti SuzukiBSE -0.29 % has pleaded inability to pay over Rs 1,200 crore by way of enhanced land acquisition dues for 600 acres it acquired for theManesar plant in 2002, and urged the Supreme Court to hear it before taking a call on the enhanced compensation amount for farmers.

Maruti had paid Rs 118.90 crore for 602.40 acres in 2008. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in an order dated February 11, 2011, enhanced the compensation amount to Rs 37.40 lakh per acre from Rs 28.15 lakh per acre fixed by the reference court. The apexBSE 0.00 % court later fixed it at Rs 28.15 lakh in an interim order on August 10, 2011.

The cost of the 1994 acquisition was fixed at a uniform Rs 15 lakh per acre in an earlier high court judgement and later enhanced by the Supreme Court to Rs 20 lakh per hectare. In fixing Rs 37.40 lakh, the high court used a 12 per cent increase per annum formula from the 1994 acquisition.

The judgement entails an additional payment of Rs 1,200 crore by the company to Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC), which acquired the land and handed it over ‘raw’ to Maruti Suzuki.

Land was acquired in Manesar area in three phases. Land for Phase I was acquired in 1994. Phases II and III were acquired in 2002. Maruti’s case was first pleaded by senior counsel PS Patwalia and then Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

“It is a huge project, giving employment,” Patwalia said. “If Rs 1,000 crore has to be paid, some hard decisions will have to be taken,” he said. “There’s been violence and arson in the plant,” he said, hinting at the possibility of things becoming worse there.

The Manesar plant, which produces Maruti’s more popular models and their diesel variants, has been embroiled in a bitter labour unrest for some time now. Singhvi, intervening later, said the project exported a significant number of cars and “was an important project for Haryana”.

He contended that the project would become unviable as the costs would go awry. “Is it fair?” Patwalia argued that the cost of land acquired for the project was estimated at Rs 100 crore, now it was over Rs 1,000 crore.

Maruti, in its plea that the court agreed to hear, explained the delay in approaching the court by saying it had no cause to worry till April 2012 when HSIDC slapped a Rs 235-crore charge on it as additional compensation costs.

The company argued that 65 per cent should have been deducted towards development charges as the land was not developed at all, and the company had invested huge amounts to improve it and create infrastructure.

The high court, while enhancing the compensation, also did not take into account any contemporary evidence and instead banked on prior or subsequent evidence by way of sale deeds to arrive at the cost of the land, Maruti claimed.

It also claimed that the land acquired in Phase I was close to NH 8 and should be valued higher than Phase II and III and not the other way round.

A bench, comprising Justices GS Singhvi and KS Radhakrishnan, was initially reluctant to hear Maruti but later agreed, before taking a final call on the compensation to be paid to the farmers.

Justice Singhvi was very critical of Haryana for acquiring and divesting land on a no-profit basis. “If no profits are to be made, why should the state acquire it for private parties at all? A better way would be to earmark land for particular purposes in the master plan and allow private parties to negotiate directly with the landowners,” Justice Singhvi said.

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by kracktivist on November 30, 2012  •  Permalink
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Maruti Workers to observe ‘ Black Diwali ‘


Inquilab Zindabad! Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad!

for more photos click on the image above.

12 November 2012

This diwali is a black diwali for us, a diwali of jailed and unemployed workers while the management of Maruti Suzuki rejoices in support and assurance it receives from the government, administration and police acting against us. We took out a march in the morning today from the new bus stand in Kaithal to the residence of Industries Minister, Randeep Surjewala’s residence in Kaithal, Haryana, where we planned observe kali diwali on 12th and 13th November. Our fellow workers and friends and relatives joined us. We spoke to the minister, Surjewala, who listended to our demands, and gave assurance to resolve the issue at the earliest and speak to the Labour minister, Shiv Charan Lal and the Chief Minister after diwali.

Earlier, starting on 7th morning, the MSWU completed its two-day hunder strike and dharna on the evening of 8thNovember in Gurgaon with a spirited mass rally of over 3000 struggling workers joined by over 1000 workers from Eastern Medikit and other factories, and others who came in solidarity, forcing the government to take notice of our present condition. We broke our hunger strike in front of the DC Office and inside the jail at 4pm, and took out the mass rally from the Mini Secretariat to the Youth and Sports Minister, Sukhbir Kataria’s residence in the Bus stand-Railway station road in Gurgaon, who came down to the street to listen to our demands, and gave us assurance of resolving our demands by taking it up with the Chief Minister after diwali.

Out hunger strike was a united action by the terminated workers, the 149 workers languishing in Gurgaon Central jail for the last three-and-a-half months, which includes our entire Union body also completed their two-day hunger strike inside the jail, despite continuous threats of torture and of separating them in separate jails. We received renewed solidarity from the workers working inside the factory in Manesar, who were planning on a solidarity lunch boycott, but were coerced by the heavy deployment of police and local company-henchmen, and bouncers to drop the solidarity action in the lunch time.

Thus our hunger strike became a form of solidarity action among the workers who are jailed, terminated and working inside the factory. However the company management and the government has tried to divide us, we will continue to find ways to be united in our resolve to forge solidarity and raise our legitimate demands. We were enthused to find the support of theworkers and union of Maruti Suzuki plant, Gurgaon, whose Union representatives including Kuldeep Jhangu stayed with us in the dharna site and rally in our support. Today’s march and dharna in Kaithal saw mass participation. We reiterate our demands:

  1. Institute an independent impartial probe into the incident of 18th July 2012, and into the role of the management in it.
  2. Immediately release all the arrested workers. Stop all repressive measures by the police on workers-inside the jail, inside the company and outside- and on their family members and relatives.
  3. Immediately reinstate all the 546 terminated workers.
  4. Immediately end the illegal lock-out in Eastern Medikit, and take back all the workers with payment of back dues.

Inquilab Zindabad!

Imaan Khan, Ram Niwas, O. P. Jat, Katar Singh, Yogesh, Raj Pal, Mahabir

Provisional Working Committee,

MARUTI SUZUKI WORKERS UNION (MSWU)

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Sacked Maruti Manesar workers begin dharna


The Hindu

NEW DELHI, NOV 7:

Workers of Maruti’s Manesar plant, who were terminated following the violence on July 18, began a dharna in front of the Gurgaon Court/District Commissioner’s Office on Wednesday morning, even as tension was palpable in the area.

“The police came in the morning and pulled off the tents from the site. The workers, about 350 in number, had to re-install the tents and the dharna has begun. More workers will join later ,” alleged Satbir Singh, President, Haryana CITU. Many central unions such as the AITUC and CITU, as well as Maruti’s Gurgaon union have pledged their support to the protest.

“While we will not take part in the hunger strike, we will join them in the protest rally to be held after it as a mark of support,” Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union General Secretary Kuldeep Janghu told a news agency on Tuesday.

In a release, the MSWU has demanded an independent impartial probe into the July 18 incident, and into the role of the management in it, the immediate release of all arrested workers, reinstatement of all 546 terminated workers among others.

The release issued on Tuesday by the provisional working committee of the Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Union (registration no. 1923) said the united protest action was to seek justice for 149 workers ‘languishing’ in Gurgaon Central Jail for the last three-and-a-half months, and the 546 permanent workers who have been terminated from their jobs. It said the 149 workers would go on hunger strike inside Gurgaon jail.

“We have the solidarity of the around 2,000 contract and casual workers who have also been unceremoniously thrown out of their jobs,” the release , signed by Imaan Khan, Ram Niwas, O. P. Jat, Katar Singh, Yogesh, Raj Pal, and Mahabir said.

On Thursday, the workers plan to take out a rally in the area to submit a memorandum to the local Minister. They said they were forced into this protest action as the workers’ family members, relatives and well-wishers had given umpteen memorandums to all the Ministers in the State but in vain.

“The entire leadership (of MSWU) was put behind bars and is being portrayed as ‘killers’ without any impartial investigation, and complete silence on the role played by the Maruti management,” the release said.

Meanwhile, trade unions have condemned the Maruti Manesar management for ‘operating under police cover’. “This is a complete violation of all democratic norms in the country,” Singh said.

A Special Investigation Team formed by the Haryana Government has reportedly concluded that the violence at the plant on July 18, in which an HR manager was killed, was due to internal issues between the management and workers. It is said to have ruled out external influence, as suspected by the company.

aditi.n@thehindu.co.in

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Press Release-The Maruti Suzuki Workers Union – protest dharna and hunger strike @Nov 7&8


 

MSWU Release:
Onwards to the Dharna and Hunger Strike of 7th and 8th November !!

NOVEMBER 6, 2012
The Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU: Reg. no. 1923) has decided to hold a
protest dharna in the form of a two-day hunger strike on 7th and 8th November
2012. Our family members, relatives and well-wishers and organizations have staged regular
protests across Haryana and given memorandum to all the ministers in the state but to no
avail. We were not allowed to unite and express our side of the story and our indignation at
being falsely implicated in the unfortunate incident of 18th July 2012.
So we are doing a united protest action of the 149 workers languishing in Gurgaon Central
Jail for the last three-and-a-half months, and the 546 permanent workers who have been
terminated from their jobs. We have all the solidarity of the around 2000 contract and casual
workers who have also been unceremoniously thrown out of their jobs. All 149 workers will
be on hunger strike inside the jail, and over 500 workers will sit in front of the Gurgaon
Court/D.C. Office in Gurgaon from 10am on 7th November till 4pm on 8th November
2012, after which we will take out a rally to submit a memorandum to the local minister.
When this protest program was declared the day-before on 4th November, police intimidation,
which we have already witnessed these three months, has increased manifold. The jail
authorities of Gurgaon Central Jail have threatened to ‘beat up’ and increase the
torture on our 149 fellow workers who go on hunger strike. All our elected Union
representatives are lodged in jail – Among those in Gurgaon Central Jail include the entire
leadership of our MARUTI SUZUKI WORKERS UNION body, who are portrayed as
‘killers’ even without any due impartial investigation, and having a complete silence on the
role played by the company management in the incident of violence on 18 July 2012.

The Maurti Suzuki company, IMT Manesar currently operates under police cover and the
condition of the few workers who work there are fear and overwork. The Manesar police
summoned each worker inside the company to the police station and has threatened all
of them of ‘dire consequences’ and termination if found to be even remotely in touch
with any of the terminated workers and having found to be attending any meeting or
dharna. This is complete violation of all democratic norms in the country.
We will however go ahead with our scheduled program and call upon all sections of
workers, unions and common people to come in our support and join us on 7th and
8thNovember in front of the D.C. Office, Gurgaon, to bring out our side of the story
which has been buried in the heap of company-driven misinformation and pro-company
government actions. We have and will stand for our legitimate rights, the unity of all the
workers against the exploitation by the Maruti management and its continuous attempts to
‘divide and rule’ over us, by segmenting us into permanent and contract, and now into jailed,
terminated and working in intimidation. We appeal to all to join us and strengthen our
struggle!

 

We demand:
1. Institute an independent impartial probe into the incident of 18th July 2012, and into the
role of the management in it.
2. Immediately release all the arrested workers. Stop all repressive measures by the police on
workers-inside the jail, inside the company and outside- and on their family members and
relatives.
3. Immediately reinstate all the 546 terminated workers and also give priority to reinstate
temporary workers as permanents.
Inquilab Zindabad!
Imaan Khan, Ram Niwas, O. P. Jat, Katar Singh, Yogesh, Raj Pal, Mahabir
Provisional Working Committee,
MARUTI SUZUKI WORKERS UNION (MSWU)

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An Appeal-Maruti Suzuki Workers Union


 

Maruti Suzuki Workers Union

 

Inquilab Zindabad! Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad!

 

 

Support our Struggle

November 2, 2012

 

 

Friends and Comrades,

 

We, the workers of Maruti Suzuki, Manesar are facing one of the toughest times in our struggle, with 160 of our fellow workers languishing in jail for the last three months (including all the MSWU representatives), while 546 permanent and another 2000 contract and apprentice workers have been terminated from their jobs. We are waging a relentless struggle against the anti-labour Maruti management, and we are fighting it out in the court, as well as in the streets, with our legitimate demands for reinstatement of terminated workers, release of arrested workers and investigation into the incident of 18th july 2012 by an impartial authority.

As the struggle continues, we appeal to all to stand in support by contributing to the struggle fund.
You can send your contributions directly to:

Account no. 912010057524329

AXIS Bank
Branch: SCO-29, SECTOR-14, Near HUDA Office, Old Delhi-Gurgaon Road, Haryana, India.

IFSC Code : UTIB0000056 
Branch Code : 000056
MICR Code : 110211008

Joint account holders name:
Imaan Khan, Ram Niwas, Omprakash Jaat

 

Please inform us by email at: marutiworkerstruggle@gmail.com so that we could confirm that we received your contribution to the struggle fund.

Struggling greetings,
Provisional Working Committee, MSWU

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