Two major issues actively being resisted by workers and their unions in the industrial belt along National Highway 8 (NH8) in Gurgaon are the widespread use and abuse of the contract worker system and the indiscriminate use of Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code to harass and silence the workers.  Another threat which the workers are grappling with is the increased privatization of security in the aftermath of the beating up of the workers of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI) two years ago.

Changed Tactics and Challenges since the HMSI incident in July 2005

On 25 July 2005, the world witnessed the televised beating up of the HMSI workers at the hands of the police. There was widespread outcry against administration and police as well as calls for reform and accountability. As a result, there has been reluctance on the part of the administration to use uniformed police in conflicts with workers. Instead, employers have, on occasion, resorted to the increased use of armed private security guards to intimidate workers (HMSI, September 2006) or the use of unidentified goons to attack workers, blaming the violence on rivalry between permanent and casual workers (Amtek Siccardi, June 2006). Meanwhile, administration and police officials conveniently ignore management complicity and, as is their wont, refuse to register complaints brought by workers against management. Instead, it is the injured workers who are hauled to jail on charges of attempt to murder (Section 307) even when police is unable to produce any management personnel with any significant visible injuries.

Section 307

Nearly two years after the attack on HMSI workers in July 2005, the charges under Section 307 have still not been withdrawn by the state against nearly 63 workers, despite several promises and assurances. Obviously, the administration wants to maintain some leverage over the workers in order to curb their militancy. However, HMSI workers are undeterred and there has been no stopping them.

In another incident, on 6 June 2006, when workers of Amtek Siccardi India Ltd., Manesar (ASIL) showed up to a meeting with the management, regarding an ongoing dispute about the transfer of two permanent workers, contrary to an agreement signed with the union, the gates of the factory were locked and two vehicles filled with goons were allowed to enter the factory premises. These goons gheraoed (surrounded) the ASIL workers and beat them up using rods and crank shafts manufactured at the plant itself. Three workers were admitted to hospital with severe injuries but the police refused to register an FIR against the management in spite of instructions from the Deputy Commissioner to do so. Instead, seven workers were charged with Section 307 (attempt to murder) and eventually a case was registered against the management under Section 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt). Nothing came of the charge against the management whereas the workers at Amtek Siccardi were all eventually dismissed in December 2006 after a paltry settlement of Rs 1.5 lakhs, which the 22 workers had no choice but to accept since all options were closed to them.

In the case of an industrial dispute at Classic Golf Resort (a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd), a 300 acre resort in the Mewat region of Haryana near Gurgaon, the management declared a lockout last October in spite of having negotiated an agreement with the workers’ union. Nearly 150 workers were attacked by goons believed to be manipulated by the management. Dozens of workers were critically injured and sent to hospitals while 77 workers were taken into judicial custody and false cases registered against them. Several of these workers were subsequently charged with Section 307.

Having learnt lessons from past conflicts (HMSI and ASIL), and to counter the Haryana administration`s penchant for slapping workers with Section 307 in every conflict, Classic Golf Resort workers refused to accept bail and chose to stay in jail until charges were dropped. In addition, for the first time ever in this region, farmers, villagers and panchayats from nearly 84 villages near Classic Golf Resort came together with the labour unions and organised several programmes to force the Chief Minister to intervene and order the release of the workers. Their efforts were partially successful and cases were withdrawn against nearly two-thirds of the workers. However, 11 workers who were the main leaders have been charged with Section 307 and released on bail.

There has been a growing realisation in this belt that solidarity is the weapon of the workers to counter the money power and clout of managements and administration. Another example of this growing consciousness is the solidarity displayed by unions for contract workers.

Contract Workers in the Auto and Auto-Ancillary Industry

The issue of contract labour is a burning issue in Gurgaon as it is in all new industrial areas.  There is compliance with the law on paper but a cursory visit to any of the numerous factories reveals the truth that the Contract Labour (Abolition) Act 1970 is being openly violated. Even three years ago when the practice of employing workers for short durations through an intermediary (real or veiled), unions in the area (of which there are very few to begin with) did not take the issue seriously. Traditional union structures were based on lengthier tenures of permanent workers and leaders were unwilling or unable to accommodate the challenges and special needs of the short tenure contract workers. In a short span of less than five years, the practice has become so widespread that unions have had to grapple with the challenge of whether it is out of an understanding of the common threat faced by all workers — permanent or contract — or because their own permanent jobs are threatened due to the increasing use of contract labour by the employers. While unions continue to grapple with the challenges, two recent events point to an encouraging trend demonstrating a nascent strategy to counter this widespread practice.

Setback

On 10 April 2006, 2,500 contract workers put their tools down for five days and occupied the Hero Honda factory in Gurgaon demanding immediate regularisation of 1,000 casual employees, followed by regularisation of 100 employees each month on a seniority basis. The company has 1,200 permanent employees, and around 4,000 casual workers. Apart from regularisation, the workers demanded that their pay be deposited in banks having ATM machines instead of paying salaries to temporary workers in cash. The employees also demanded compensatory off-days and medical assistance on par with regular employees. The permanent employees did not come forward to take up the cause of the contract workers on strike or to extend solidarity to them. The management first reached a settlement with the workers, and took them back only to dismiss them all in batches. 

Lessons Learnt

Hard lessons were learnt from this debacle. Five months later when the contract workers at Honda Motors and Scooters India (HMSI) Manesar went on strike for five days, the role of the permanent workers and the HMSI Employees Union ensured a victory for the contract workers. Not only did the union ensure that management took back all the workers but it also negotiated a raise of Rs 650. The management agreed to instruct its manpower suppliers to open bank accounts for its contract employees if they requested it. The practice of making cash payments to contract workers is prevalent at HMSI as well. However, a significant victory was the fact that management agreed to recruit workers for vacancies in its permanent workforce only from the ranks of contract workers and apprentices who have already worked at HMSI. This victory has established a precedent in this industrial belt.

It is evident that both employers and the government are shaken by this development. A question was raised in the Assembly on this agreement and there was pressure on the Labour Commissioner to have this agreement withdrawn.

However, the HMSI Employees Union refused to withdraw it.

While this incident demonstrates that such successes are possible, there is much that still needs to be done to develop a comprehensive and united strategy vis-à-vis the contract workers issues in this industrial belt. Five months after the HMSI casual workers’ strike, when contract workers at Delphi India went on strike, permanent workers and the Delphi Employees Union supported them and ensured that the workers were taken back to work and not dismissed en masse. However, success was limited as some contract workers left the factory on their own and the management dismissed several others who had gone on strike. This setback has given much food for thought to activists and trade unionists of the area; we can expect significant mobilisation on this issue in the near future.