[Gansan]

Reforms will come only when there is open rioting in the streets and not before. We are watching the seeds of revolution being sown right before our eyes.

[Irish]

Today's morning TOI had this news:

Maruti strike: Did the hero, Sonu Gujjar, sell them out?

Remember Somu of Namak Haram, the guy who walks into a Bombay factory one day, gets a job and starts living in the workers' chawl? Within days, Somu - played brilliantly by Rajesh Khanna - becomes the workers' hero. Though he doesn't look like a union boss - no hammer & sickle bandanas and no Bolshevik slogans - his simple words about "workers' interest" make him their leader. Somu is, in fact, a mole sent to destroy the union, but he switches sides. In the end, he stands alone - suspected by fellow workers and hunted by the industrialist.

Sonu Gujjar's rise to fame - some would say notoriety - and fall from grace has been equally spectacular. Sonu always looked like a reluctant union guy - no red flags for him, no fiery slogans either. And he was not overly bothered about the conflict between labour and capital. For him, "workers' cause" had a different meaning.

Till a few months back, this ITI-trained man from Jhajjar was not seen as a potential troublemaker by the management of Maruti Suzuki's factory at Manesar in Haryana. Forced to quit school following the death of his father, Sonu joined the factory in July 2006. Over the next five years, his attendance averaged more than 98%; he won the best operator award and the managing director's trophy for best employee. Then two incidents, says Sonu, changed his attitude towards the "multinational". When some workers met with an accident and did not get any support from the company, he took up their cause. Later, when a colleague's mother died, Sonu was pulled up for asking other workers to observe two minutes' silence. "This made me realize that the management doesn't care for us. They treat us like robots. So I decided to stand up for the workers as the official union was not doing anything," Gujjar told Sunday Times days before he suspiciously disappeared, allegedly after taking a hefty amount from the management to "shut up and scoot".

After he decided to contest election for the "illegal" union, the management tried to stop him. But it didn't work. "Comrade Sonu" won and began a strike for the workers' right to form an independent union. As the company went into a tailspin - lockout at Manesar plant, trouble in other factories, record fall in profits - Sonu's stature grew by the day. And when Maruti decided to shift its operations to Gujarat, Sonu became a giant slayer - the man who drove Maruti out.

But just the other day came reports that Sonu and his associates had quietly left the company after a settlement of Rs 14 lakh each. The workers are fuming. "He was not serious about our problems. He didn't know anything about labour laws. He made some populist demands and took us all for a ride," says a worker at the Manesar plant.

Guilty or not, Sonu Gujjar must be a lonely man today.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...-maruti-suzuki


And here is the LATEST:

Maruti paid leaders Shiv Kumar & Sonu Gujjar Rs 1 crore each to end strike, allege workers

NEW DELHI: In a fresh development, workers are now levelling charges against the management of Maruti Suzuki India and raising questions on the way the strike was brought to an end, according to ET Now.

ET Now spoke to workers who felt that the kickbacks paid to the leaders Shiv Kumar and Sonu Gujjar were not limited to a few lakhs. The workers believe that both Kumar and Gujjar were given Rs 1 crore each and that the Haryana government has promised them flats and cars in Delhi.

They also alleged that 28 other workers who had resigned were given Rs 20 lakh each. These allegations could not, however, be independently confirmed and both Maruti as well as the leaders have denied it.

Source: Maruti paid leaders Shiv Kumar & Sonu Gujjar Rs 1 crore each to end strike, allege workers - The Times of India


It seems that they got a 'good' deal.

Cheers!
Irish

[anu21v]

I used to have huger respect for a company of the stature of Maruti. This incident has shook me to the core. Some of my best professor fondly used to recall how the planned the project Maruti in 80s.

But this news is a quite a contrast from the socialist fabric on which maruti was built. Sure maruti has changed its cloths to suit today's capitalist world, but never in my dream i thought the change in clothes will change to company culture to such an extent.

On one side there is a character assassination of few Labor Leaders and on the other side the Company leaders are getting awarded "The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star" by The Emperor of Japan

Maruti Chairman awarded The Order of the Rising Sun by Japan - NDTV Profit

Don't know whom to favour but considering these labour Leader have taken additional risk and have put their life on stake; most likely these leaders are the ones Speaking the truth not the Maruti Management.

Who would have incentive to leak the news to other labors, it Can't be these guys, it has to be company officials leaking such news to character assassinate these folks. Not only they lost their jobs and got pittance for that, they also lost their reputation and chance to work with any other company. And in any case 16 or 40 Lakh rupees can't be and shouldn't be seen as bribery at all. With this money one can't even buy a Flat in Gurgaon which starts upward of 80 Lakh rupees these days. This can only be seen as severance pay so that these guys can start their business somewhere in the remote corners of the country. For a guy who can damage a company's loss to the extent of 2300 crores, 40 lakh or even One crore seems a small amount.

Now if we assume it is Maruti Management who has done this thing I have to assume that they are the worst management to not have heard any call of workers. Afterall, what else can a company lose if it accepts a simple demand of workers that they are looking for an "independent Union". I understand they run a risk of not able to manage their workers through probably already in-the-pocket labour leaders. Well thats a huge risk, but if true isn't that unethical in the first place.

As an Indian, I feel Disgusted that Management was talking to everyone else but never even cared to adjust to few demands by labours but looked more and more the cronies who are carrying out the orders passed from Japanese leadership. It not only lost 2300 crores of lost sale for its own Investors by not accepting a simple demand of one month of labour salary not deducted from workers ((1000+1500))*12,000 Rs per month= 3 Crore rupees Only).

For Consumers it gets worse from here. Now you have 1000 unsatisfied and annoyed workers making Cars on maruti assembly lines in manesar and another 1500 workers making suzuki powertrains; knowing fully well that not only none of their future demands will get fullfilled but also they can't risk choosing another leader to fight for them. Its the management that seems culprit here who lost 2300 crores of investors money by not heeding even the genuine demands of the workers.

As a customer I would not want to run the risk of buying cars from this company, knowing some key critical components might be missing in the cars which i can never figure out. (think Airbag Sensors Missing, which gets utilized just once in life and can be fatal)

I have to give in to the fact that this has been the worst possible example set for the corporate india by a stalwart.

I shudder to think that its a distinct possibility of having a real life replication of the opening sequences from AB starrer DEEWAR.

Disclaimer: I am secretly hoping I am wrong on all counts and corporate India takes only the good example from this incidence.

[andromeda]

Originally Posted by anu21v

For Consumers it gets worse from here. Now you have 1000 unsatisfied and annoyed workers making Cars on maruti assembly lines in manesar and another 1500 workers making suzuki powertrains; knowing fully well that not only none of their future demands will get fullfilled but also they can't risk choosing another leader to fight for them. Its the management that seems culprit here who lost 2300 crores of investors money by not heeding even the genuine demands of the workers.

As a customer I would not want to run the risk of buying cars from this company, knowing some key critical components might be missing in the cars which i can never figure out. (think Airbag Sensors Missing, which gets utilized just once in life and can be fatal)

I have to give in to the fact that this has been the worst possible example set for the corporate india by a stalwart.

I shudder to think that its a distinct possibility of having a real life replication of the opening sequences from AB starrer DEEWAR.

Disclaimer: I am secretly hoping I am wrong on all counts and corporate India takes only the good example from this incidence.

. That was a very valid point that you put across.
There are auto workers in other companies who might be getting the same/less compensation that the current Maruti workers. But something like this huge buyout/bribery to a select few has hardly happened. It has definitely bruised/angered a lot of worker. More finer details seem to be emerging. After losing a few thousand crores during the period of strike, looks like Maruti bought out a select few workers with a few ten crores.

Maruti Suzuki paid Shiv Kumar & Sonu Gujjar Rs 1 crore each, allege workers - The Economic Times

As more info comes out on the so-called 'settlement' with the Union leaders, the existing workers get more agitated. Their morale will definitely have an affect on the cars rolling out of the plant in the near future. Do remember that worker are human beings (not robots). If everything could be done robots in a fool-proof manner, there would not have been any workers. Rather, can we assume that these worker do the critical (I do NOT mean precision, here) stuff which cannot be trusted to be done by robots ?

If things are not sorted out with the existing workers soon, then its
Maruti 'Quality' crisis ------> Lesser Sales ---> Lower Marketshare -----> Disaster for Maruti (since their plant in Gujarat is still a few years away).

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Workers elect new union leaders, and communists trade unions have come out in the open - declaring support! Media reports chances of a fresh strike erupting soon!

Another strike like the one that happened last month and my money is going somewhere else. Enough is enough, no matter how good Swift is!

Ram Mehar Singh has been nominated as president and Sarabjit Singh as general secretary of the Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Union.

“It’s a dirty game played by the company management,” said D.L. Sachdev, general secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), an affiliate of the Communist Party of India. AITUC supported the protests.

Maruti
Maruti workers seek to register new union sans outsiders | mydigitalfc.com
Maruti workers to rebuild union as leaders quit

[MCR]

Business Line : Companies News : Maruti Suzuki continues to walk the labour tight rope

Looks like the people at Maruti are readying for another strike. Though this will happen only after the new union gets recognised. The troubles are defenitely not over for the car maker.

[sdp1975]

Problems at SPIL again as per ET :

Workers adopt 'Go-slow' policy at SPIL, Maruti's critical diesel engine plant - The Economic Times

[ankurvirmani19]

I am not able to understand, that when would these issues end. As per workers, its managements fault and management thinks vice-versa.

The diesel cars are so much in demand that around 65-70% orders are coming only for diesel engines. This would further delay the deliveries of Swifts and make the matters worse.

[shashank.nk]

I expected this to happen sooner or later. When the workers called off the strike their issues weren't completely resolved, so now they're up in arms again.

Only hope that it doesn't become a very serious issue and lead to month long strikes. As it is the waiting period for Swift is high an even longer waiting period is seriously esting the customers patience

[NVI2112]

Yday I was told that Petrol Swift ZXI gets delivered in 3 Months time. Is that happening?

[MCR]

Suzuki offering me cash to quit: Union leader - The Times of India

Looks like the things are turning a bit ugly at Maruti Suzuki. Only time will tell where all these things are headed to!

[abhi413]

History repeats at Manesar. Another round of labour trouble :(
Beats me why someone would resort to violence in this day and age. So much for the workers' union at Maruti. Looks like an actual truce was never reached at Maruti Manesar. Hidden grudges have burst out today, injuring a number of innocent employees, too!

Note from Mod : The latest happenings at Maruti's Manesar plant are being discussed in a new thread -
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ction-hit.html