The four-year-long disturbing silence maintained after its notorious action on 25 July 2005, involving the Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Private Limited (HMSI) workers, the Haryana government, its police force and auto industrialists in Gurgaon are all back in action, showing again its true colour of naked antagonism against the working class. In addition to the regular harassments like lockouts, suspension, termination and lathi charge, they detained Gurudas Dasgupta, the general secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) – the union which represents around 35 lakh workers, and the AITUC national secretary DL Sachdeva, at the Haryana–Delhi border on 1 October 2009, while they were proceeding to address a workers’ gathering in Gurgaon.

 

Management vs Labour

Labour unrest is not a new issue for Gurgaon. Presently, around 14 automobile industries in Haryana are facing labour/management problems. Sunbeam, Rico Auto Industries Ltd, Micro-Tech, FCC Rico, Rico Daruhera, HMSI, Hema Engineering, Hi Lux, Sona Steering, Hero Honda, and Bajaj are a few among them. On 25 September, 2009, the Kamala Nehru Park in Gurgaon had witnessed a massive gathering of around 15,000 workers – unionized and non-unionized, demanding protection of workers’ rights. Keeping aside ideological differences, these trade unions had come together raising the demands of the automobile workers in Gurgaon. The meeting had discussed the deplorable condition of workers in the automobile sector and submitted a memorandum to the DC Anurag Aggarwal, demanding his immediate intervention on the burning issues at the 14 factories. Immediate action was sought for the workers of Rico Auto Ltd and Sunbeam Auto Ltd who were forced to sit in front of the company gates due to the management’s vindictive action.

 

Unionisation: The Main Cause of Rancour

Workers’ attempts to form unions have become the main reason for the management’s acrimony. In spite of the poor pay package received, the employees have never made any economic demands. The major demand of the workers has always been for their right to organize, and the management cannot take refuge in arguing that workers are raising unreasonable demands during a time of economic downturn. Two glaring examples of the inconsistent stance of management are provided by Rico Auto Ltd and Sunbeam Auto Ltd, located at Delhi–Jaipur Highway, Gurgaon. Around 5,000 workers from Rico and around the same number from Sunbeam have been prevented from working in their respective factories, with no notice or prior warning. The immediate reason, as per the workers, is only their attempt to form/revive a union.

 

The Incidents

The workers felt the need for unionization when the company, in the name of economic recession, threw out large numbers of workers without prior information or economic benefits. In addition to this was the issue of conveyance. ‘Women workers have to leave their houses early to reach for the 6 am shift, and travel back late evening on their own, and there is no crèche facility for the children. When even gents are scared to travel alone during odd hours, how can women comfortably travel and come to work?’, asks an employee of Rico. Thus, in the face of the challenges posed by the management, the workers had decided to opt for a union and collectively fight for their rights. AITUC Gurgaon was contacted and with their support and guidance the workers formed the Rico Employees Union. On August 4, 2009, the union submitted their application to the labour department, Chandigarh, for its formal recognition. On September 9, 2009, around 3.00 pm, the Rico Employees Union called an open meeting of its members at Kamala Nehru Park, Gurgaon, to discuss the future action plan of the union. ‘We did not want to disturb the functioning of the company. But at the same time, we wanted maximum workers to participate,’ says Anil, who has worked with Rico for the past six years. ‘At 2.30, the first shift gets over and the second shift starts. We thought of meeting at 3.00 so that workers from two shifts could participate and the company could also function as usual with its second shift,’ explains Anil. The meeting was well attended with around 3,000 workers’ participation. On September 20, the entire workforce met again at the same venue to re-emphasize their needs. Since Sunday was an off day for the company, all workers participated in the meeting, not being aware of what was in store for them the next day.

 

On 21 September, those who came to work faced the wrath of the management and were forced to sit outside the gate of the factory. ‘Around 5,000 employees had to sit outside the company gate, since the company said it was on lockout from 21 September 2009,’ says the Rico employees. The employees came to know about this undeclared lockout only on the same date, when the first batch of around 1,500 workers had gone to work at 6 am. The security guards at the gate did not allow the workers to go inside. When they refused to listen, the police force, along with the security guards and bouncers (the musclemen employed by the company), lathi-charged the workers. ‘Many of us got minor bruises, but major causalities did not happen,’ says Ranjan Pande, a Rico employee.

 

The workers have been in front of the factory gate since September 21, 2009. ‘We are not on dharna; we are sitting here because the management does not allow us to go inside,’ emphasize the workers. 

 

According to the workers, the retaliation of lockout was chosen by the management only because the workers had formed a union and applied for registration.

 

The case of Sunbeam Auto Ltd is not much different from that of Rico. The only difference here is: the workers have asked for revival and election of the existing union. Sunbeam has had a registered union – Sunbeam Shramik Union – since 1996.  However, this union, though registered, was just an eyewash – an age-old technique adopted by management of forming union only on paper, with people who side with them functioning as office bearers. ‘Every three year, election happens and the office bearers are reconstituted, but the election is again a gimmick,’ says Sunil, an employee of Sunbeam. In May 2009 the term period of the current office bearers got over, and the workers demanded an election and a change in the leadership. No one heeded this demand, but later, on June 8, the current office bearers including Avdesh Kumar (general secretary) and Anand Singh (president) announced that an election had already taken place on June 1, 2009. When the workers termed it as an illegal and unjust action, on June 9, 2009, the current office bearers approached the labour court lodging a petition stating that the workers are creating hindrances in the smooth functioning of an elected union.

The management started expressing their resentment and took the first initiative on June 28, 2009, by suspending Pravin Kumar, an employee, on the grounds that he had misbehaved in the company. The vindictiveness continued and gradually they suspended 10 more workers, all on similar grounds of indiscipline, and on July 8, 2009, they went one step ahead by terminating a worker named Shillu.

Since the legal advisor of the company, SK Dange, is closely connected to INTUC, the management somehow got the existing union affiliated to INTUC on July 12, 2009, and then onwards, changed their pressure tactics by forcing workers to accept the current union as the only union in the company. Meanwhile, two suspended workers were taken back and later, two others were suspended. As of October 1, 2009, ten workers have been suspended and one employee terminated

 

The tactics of the management consisted of calling workers independently to the concerned department head’s room and making him forcefully sign a letter that was taken on a 10-rupees stamp paper, stating his willingness to acknowledge the current union. The management could collect signatures of around 200–250 workers, since the threat was to terminate them. But when a majority refused to do so, the management prevented the entire workforce from entering the factory premises on September 22, 2009, without any notice. Like Rico, the gates were not opened for them for the 6 am shift.

 

 

 

The management version of the incident is different. According to SK Sharma, the DGM of Sunbeam, the company is not on lockout and is functioning with 30 per cent of its workforce. He emphasized that the workers are on an illegal strike. In his words, ‘Without serving any notice, they went on strike, putting us into loss of crores of rupees. The Haryana government has issued a notice on October 1, 2009, stating that the strike is illegal and if the workers do not join work, they will be terminated. It is the workers who are not coming to work. We are functioning with 30 per cent workers.’

 

The umbrage does not stop there. On 22 September, around midnight, the workers were lathi-charged by the police, security and bouncers. The workers had to flee to the nearby Khandsa village to save their lives. Workers were injured and around 10 workers were taken to civil hospital with injuries. On 23 September, 2009, the various trade unions in Gurgaon called for a meeting of the Sunbeam workers at Kamala Nehru Park and expressed their solidarity. The leaders submitted a memorandum to the police commissioner highlighting the issue of lathi charge, and later, accompanied the Sunbeam workers (around 5,000) from the meeting venue to the company gate.

 

Revenge: No End

After the all-union meeting on 25 September 2009, the incident of 1 October, 2009, happened. Gurudas Dasgupta and DL Sachdeva, who had come to address the workers gathering in Gurgaon, were stopped by the Gurgaon police at the border at around 5.15 pm, and were taken to the police station. ‘We were at first taken to the DLF Phase III police station and later to DLF Phase I,’ recounts Sachdeva. The working class in Gurgaon, hearing the news of the leaders’ arrest, gathered and marched to the police station. When they reached Rajiv Chowk, the police did not allow them to proceed further. Workers sat down at Rajiv Chowk, blocking the traffic for nearly three hours. A memorandum was submitted to the police commissioner and around 9.15 pm, the leaders were released from the station.

 

On 4 October, the workers again had to face the crackdown of the police, bouncers and management. Early morning, around 6 am, police came in buses, picked up the workers, drove away, and dropped them around 12 kilometres ahead. The tents of both the Rico and Sunbeam groups, including the mike, speakers and utensils to make food, were taken away by the police. Twenty-six Rico workers were arrested and taken to Saddar police station. These workers were taken out on bail on 6 October, 2009.

 

 

 

The Future

In Gurgaon, about 10,000 workers of two companies are sitting outside the gates awaiting justice. They have very few demands, of which the main is their right to organize.  Article 19 of the Constitution of India – protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech, etc. – states that all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, to assemble peaceably and without arms, and to form associations or unions. Convention 87 – Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 – of the International Labour Organization (ILO) establishes that workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and, subject only to the rules of the organization concerned, to join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization; and shall have the right to draw up their constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities, and to formulate their programmes. In 1949, ILO re-emphasized the rights to unionize by adopting C 98 – Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 – stating that the workers shall enjoy adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment.

Which party governs the country is not an issue. The various governments that came to power since 1948 have not bothered to ratify ILO Conventions 87 or 98. When the government itself is scared of the workers getting organized, how can the workers visualize a better work atmosphere? Rights exist for workers, but they remain only on paper.

The Gurgaon workers’ issue is not a burning issue for the government. The mainstream media have also not picked it up, either through raising concerns or highlighting issues for debates. State assembly elections are due in Haryana, and the state is geared up for it. Once the elections are over and the power retained, the administration might show its true colours by going in for bloodshed and the kill, which might attract the attention of the mainstream media.

Considering the incidents in Gurgaon, one is forced to think about the future. The future seems bleak – but then, is there a future left for the working class of India?