Defending the Right to Association and Uniting Contract Workers

13 June 2011, Delhi: The New Trade Union Initiative condemns the Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s non-recognition of the newly formed union at its Manesar plant, the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union, the sacking of 11 workers of the plant, and the company’s discriminatory practices towards workers on temporary contract.

The right to form or choose your union and its representatives is a fundamental right of every worker. Already in 2002, Maruti Suzuki’s management had unilaterally derecognized the Maruti Udyog Employees Union. This was part of the management strategy of union busting. The company forcibly taking written statements from their workers that they are satisfied with their present union, as well as the sacking of eight office bearers of the newly formed union, besides three other workers, are yet other manifestations of the company’s union busting practices. We condemn the management’s continuous hostility towards unions that represent workers’ interests democratically.

Over the years, Maruti Suzuki has gradually changed its workforce composition and created a small core of permanent employees and a growing body of workforce under temporary contract who are employed under precarious working conditions. This weakens the bargaining power of the workers and allows the company to retrench workers in a period of economic downturn. Today, about 85% of Maruti Suzuki’s 3,000 workers at Manesar are contract workers. Maruti Suzuki has also established a salary structure and incentive packages that are strongly biased against workers who are under temporary contract. We condemn Maruti Suzuki’s unequal treatment towards contract workers and uphold the right of equal pay for equal work and the right to security of tenure as regular worker. We condemn Maruti Suzuki’s use of these discriminatory practices as a tool to divide workers and marginalise contract workers.

Today, contract workers in the manufacturing sector constitute more than 30% of the total manufacturing workers. Contract workers are fragmented in multiple ways, fragmented through the use of multiple contractors in the same establishment or workplace and divided by being organised into different political federations. Nevertheless, the contract labour is organizing itself and slowly emerging as an autonomous struggle which has the power to broaden and deepen the Indian trade union movement. In this context, many contract workers’ unions from all over the country have formed a Preparatory Committee to bring all unions organising contract workers, across sectors, industries, regions and affiliations, under a common fold and constitute a Forum Against Contract Work. The show of solidarity from workers and their unions in surrounding industrial establishments, including Hero Honda, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Ltd., Rico Auto, Omaxe Auto, and Lumax Industries, in joining the protest outside Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant on Thursday is one more step towards organising and forging unity of contract labour. This is a common struggle for unity, to which NTUI is deeply committed.