[Safari_Beast]

Many companies moved out of gurgaon just due to politicians mafia . There were many instances not of gurgaon but also in whole haryana that companies moved out from haryana . These politicians need a share in the companies profit , its the poor workers who get misleaded by these union leaders .

[bullboy]

We tend to look at most of the unions with suspicion

IMO,No Unions are bad ,I believe there should be unions for every sector ,but the problem is the way it is manipulated , often unions are puppets of political parties rather than benefiting the workers.

Why is the state government keeping mum on this .It is high time that the govt should intervene and sort things out.

[Latheesh]

Strike at three plants of Suzuki called off - India News - IBNLive

[Cesc]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

Agree that Labor laws are more or less in favour of workers but are they implemented fully anywhere. The labor commissioner;s palms In gurgaon are already greased fully by MSIL mgmt IMO. Why commissioner is silent. I have heard of one statement only from him/her which endorses MSIL;s Stand. Did she talked to agitating workers ??

You are writing as if you KNOW that MSIL has bribed the labor commissioner because you seem to be stating facts.

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

As for sweat factories goes, than exploitation does n;t mean a sweating worker.

IMO you need to look up the definition of sweat-shops because your comment clearly shows that you did not understand the term fully.

[vnabhi]

Strike has been called off, folks. See the news portals.

[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by Cesc

You are writing as if you KNOW that MSIL has bribed the labor commissioner because you seem to be stating facts.

I guess you missed the "IMO" written in the same sentence .never mind. On a separate note my question is simple .

If govt appoint;s a labor commissioner what his / her work. to sit on the fence and let both the parties fight over or try to resolve the dispute between two parties. What all we have heard is that " MSIL is correct in asking it;s work for signing the good conduct bond" . doesn 't this sound strange and smells of some thing not right . Does the workers appointments letter has such clause initially . What forced MSIL to ask worker for such Bond .

As some body has said, we have heard one side of the story only.

Originally Posted by Cesc

IMO you need to look up the definition of sweat-shops because your comment clearly shows that you did not understand the term fully.

definition do keep on changing with times my dear friend. Unfortunately i have always lived in present . Mind writing down what's the meaning of sweat-shops per se your dictionary in current market scenario.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Strike has been called off, folks. See the news portals.

Only workers at Suzuki power-train & Motorcycle unit has called off the strike . MSIL workers continue to be on strike.

[mahadev_kc]

Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine

Some more info on the MSIL strike...
No wonder why TATA Group of companies score highly on minimal strikes....

[sdp1975]

Originally Posted by mahadev_kc

Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine

mahadev, many thanks for the article. It was a real eye-opener in terms of the details provided.

One can only hope that the working condition of these folks improve .

[CtrlAltDel]

Why they strike? Why should you care?

An excellent article in Tehelka about the strike at the Maruti Suzuki plant.

Excerpt:

"Here is what a Maruti Suzuki worker says his average day at the Manesar plant is like. You catch a bus at 5 am for the factory. Arriving a second late to punch in your card means a pay cut, but you can’t leave the premises once you’ve entered. At 6.30 am, you exercise and supervisors give you feedback on your previous output.

Start work at 7 sharp. Everyone does his one task — assembling, welding, fixing — for a minimum of 8 continuous hours. A car rolls off the line every 38 seconds, which means you can’t budge from your position, ever. You get two breathless breaks during the day.

At 9 am, a 7-minute break to drink tea or go to the loo, or both. After a while you might, like many of your friends here, end up taking your hot tea and kachori to the bathroom with you.

Then a lunch break of 30 minutes, in which you walk about a half kilometre to the canteen, wait in line with everyone, eat and walk back. Returning even a minute late from any break, or leaving the assembly line for any reason even for a minute, means half a day’s pay cut.

Older systems used to include an overseer for every small group of workers who could step in if someone needed to take a breather. But, the cost logic of production is perennially at odds with workers’ rights. "

So, the next time you are chatting with colleagues in your 30 minute "tea break" in an air conditioned cafeteria, would you crib about the waiting period for the new Swift you have booked?

If what the article says is true (disclaimer: I trust Tehelka and am willing to take their word for it), a change is long over due in Suzuki's way of working. Or any industry/manufacturer for that matter.

[drmohitg]

I am not sure if thats entirely true. Surely some part of it is exaggerated like the stress on " even a minute break" used at various places in the article. But apart from that there is no hiding from the fact that labour welfare laws are non existent in our system. And you will indeed find a lot of people working hard with those kind of scary routines, many times including kids.

This article sure makes it look like a remake of "Blood Diamond".

[honeybee]

I suggest you read the book, "The Maruti Story" written by R C Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. It sheds light on how Maruti was born and how it transformed from a government owned public sector unit into the largest carmaker in India that millions swear by.

In the Japanese way of working, a minute's delay would indeed be considered astronomical for an assembly line operation where delay at one stage will throw the entire assembly line operations out of gear. So like it or not, we must accept that the discipline must be followed. The only contentious part as I can see from the report is should there be an overseer who can relieve one of the employees occasionally. If this practice was being followed earlier and has now been abolished, it cannot simply be for cost reasons alone. So again, we shouldn't be drawing conclusions after hearing just one part of the story.

I don't believe striking work was the only alternative left, if indeed the above conditions are a problem. Japanese companies implement a lot of processes to find out ways to improve the operations, and if someone could demonstrate that by changing the above timelines the output could be improved, I am sure Suzuki would listen. The question is: has anyone tried to do it?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

This is already being discussed in the thread -

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ty-cars-5.html

I somehow doubt the article 100%. When we did our automobile engineering few years back, Maruti was highly recommended by our alumni placed at MSIL. Wonder how the situation could be so bad now.

[SinghBHP]

I would completely agree with each word in the tehelka article. In-fact it should not come as a surprise to anybody as this is what drives the foreign manufacturers to invest in India. No Labour Laws (even if they exist who cares) , no HR rights, Local authorities and even national Govt easy to tackle with Bribes, lakhs of unemployed educated people coming at cheap cost etc. What else do you want to drive a Manufacturing unit at the minimum cost and your own dictatorish T&C.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

This is already being discussed in the thread -

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ty-cars-5.html

I somehow doubt the article 100%. When we did our automobile engineering few years back, Maruti was highly recommended by our alumni placed at MSIL. Wonder how the situation could be so bad now.

I think you understand that the working conditions for an Automobile engineer and a diploma holder from ITI would be very very different!

[CtrlAltDel]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

I somehow doubt the article 100%. When we did our automobile engineering few years back, Maruti was highly recommended by our alumni placed at MSIL. Wonder how the situation could be so bad now.

I bet your alumini are not among the low level workers who are on strike. They are most likely placed higher in the hierarchy and would definitely enjoy better conditions.

about the "facts" mentioned in the article, the reason I prefer to believe it is the track record of Tehelka. If it appeared in most other magazines/newspapers I would have taken it with a pinch of salt.

The workers' condition mentioned in the article is not just a problem in the Suzuki plant, but in most industries in India. I have seen and heard of similar cases vis a vis the construction labor force in India.

@honetybee: Though its a Japanese MNC, its possible that Indian low level workers are not being treated on par with their counterparts in Japan. It happens even in many IT MNCs. I for example had once worked in a company where any American employee flying down to India would fly business class where as any Indian employee (other than a few of the top brass) would fly economy.