[apachelongbow]

I believe Indian labor laws are also responsible for the current mess. As per current labor law it takes government permission for a company to fire even a single worker due to any reason. That's why most of the companies resort to hiring temporary labor which they can exploit at will.
The section on industrial dispute acts 1947 (Criticisms) in wikipedia.org reflect this
Labour in India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[maheshramaling]

It is indeed terrible. Killing somone to reinstate a co-worker is not justified even if the management was wrong in suspending/ terminating that employee.

Hope a thorough investigation is done and culprit get's harsh punishment, though it looks tough with almost 3000 people are being searched for.

My deep condolonces to Awanish's family who was burnt alive in this clash. You can see his profile here; Dev, Awanish Kumar | LinkedIn

Here is the link and a video from Reuters;

Maruti shares sink after deadly riot shuts Manesar factory | Reuters

One dead after clashes at a car plant in India | Video | Reuters.com

[veyron_head]

I really wish Maruti simply shuts down the plant with no compensation paid to any of those morons and moved elsewhere.

They burnt a man to death because someone lost a job?! Did they realize this man lost his life?

Someone has posted earlier in this thread that a worker at MSIL makes 18k a month. I started with a 7500 rupee salary after my post graduation, not too long ago!

Unions are such a curse in this country. I have a cousin sister working in a nationalized bank. She tells me that their unions 'keep a watch' on employees who work beyond the 5:30 PM deadline everyday!

Seeing Avinash profile on Linkedin makes me wonder what his next position on LI would be, had he made it alive out of the arson. My heart goes out to his family at this time.

[shankar.balan]

We are a barbaric race of dunderheads. Made more so by the highly politicized unions.
This is absolutely ridiculous.
I say privatize MSIL fully and let the workers who are good be retained and the idiots sacked.

[Ford5]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

where only terrorism industry thrives.

As much as your post makes sense about the whole nation going nowhere I'd suggest you look into why kashmir has been what it is. You'l only get one conclusion --> Politicians

[RSR]

This is an outrageous and deeply disturbing incident However hard the glitterati types and the media morons try to put a fake mask on India by calling it a "rising superpower", "the next big economic powerhouse" etc., innumerable incidents like these just goes to show the entire world that we are still a country of backward barbarians, corrupt crooks and greasy goons. And as others have mentioned, such incidents have happened many times before in different places.

May the soul of the HR GM who died (most likely murdered for no fault of his own) rest in peace and his traumatised family be able to cope with the loss of their breadwinner. May all those who suffered injuries (including the Japanese executives) recover fully from the physical and mental trauma.

Whatever be their grievances (most likely genuine), does it give those workers (goons is a better word) the right to indulge in such senseless violence? Let alone arson and vandalism, so many have been injured (some battling for their lives) and one person is dead. I doubt if his death was an accident. From the reports, it looks like the goons must have beaten him (and the others) with those steel automobile parts till the poor guy dropped dead. And then to cover it up, the vile mob must have set the building on fire, in order to make it look like he was trapped in the burning building and to destroy any evidence (CCTV footage etc.)

To think that these are the kinds of savages that put together the cars we drive is worrying, to say the least. Will the police find the culprits responsible for the killing and bring them to justice? Of course, we know the answer, this is India and the corrupt, incompetent police will most likely never catch the real assailants. It already looks like that is the case with them searching for 3000 people. Some random workers will be caught and thrown behind bars for a few months, and then they will ultimately be let free for lack of concrete evidence and justice will never be done.

The government(s) and the management also have to share some of the blame. The former for failing (is there anything they are successful at?) to create a conducive labour environment in industries and balance the interests of labour and capital. The latter for allowing previous grievances and existing wounds to fester until an incident lit the fuse for a ghastly explosion. Let's not forget the notorious, corrupt, politically affiliated "unionists" who rarely have the common worker's interests at heart. Whatever, the real criminals are the ones in the mob who were responsible for the death, grievous injuries, deliberate violence and arson.

This terrible death and tragic incident is going to have repercussions beyond Maruti Suzuki, the Manesar-Gurgaon industrial belt and even the auto sector as a whole. It will make people think twice or thrice before choosing India as a destination. Indian industry is slipping into reverse gear at a critical time for the domestic and global economies.

[//M]

The HR General Manager who was burnt to death is the alumni of Xavier Institute of Social Service (Ranchi), the institute where I am currently pursuing my MBA in Human Resource Management. It is indeed a sad day here at my college and a sad day in the automobile history too.

Tragic !!

[nurni76]

This is truly atrocious. I went to Medanta hospital to visit a friend of mine who was also beaten up yesterday. He was mentioning that people were beating each and every one from the management with iron rods. They were so barbaric that they attacked the individuals till they fell on the ground. My friend was wearing a helmet and hence avoided head injuries though had fractures on his legs. I guess the Police has to take severe action and not spare a single culprit.

[anjan_c2007]

The events are due to a simmering discontent, prolonged and concealed anger and anguish, manifesting from time to time in the form of violence and even bloodshed against the management. The situation has reached its peak as of now.
Thats a very bad management practice being followed at MSIL and needs condemnation outrightly. The workers attitude to resort to violence and murderous assaults also need condemnation and are liable for criminal action. It has very deep roots and is bound to manifest again in some form or the other and maybe the quality of cars show the tell tale signs of the worker- management relations.
In the long run, the existence of MSIL as the top car maker in India will also be at stake. The management - worker rivalry or the unhealthy games that they are playing against each other, may not cease or heal under such circumstances anytime soon.
It would be preferable for the MSIL management to adopt some modern and better management practices and in case they do not have in-house management gurus to resolve the tense situation, they need to engage management gurus by outsourcing their services.
The management practices need a total "perestroika" for smooth sailing in the long run. No company can be run under such violent conditions and with the help by deploying a 2000 strong police force for protection.

[libranof1987]

Agitation is fine; a strike is still tolerable but assault is DEFINITELY NOT.

Where's the humanity? Beating up people - shocking. This is plain indigestible.

AT LEAST now, can political games be stopped between the management-workers.

Probably we'll never know the inside story - of who is at the root cause of all this but this has gone way out of hand.

People will issue statements, warnings, take lousy actions; all will be forgotten until the next time such a thing happens.

I'm sick to hear this.

My heart goes out to Mr. Dev's family.

[bluevolt]

This is totally unacceptable. Employees killing the Employer is really a thing of concern.

There must be a strict action against the culprits otherwise this will become a trend and everywhere employees will start beating/killing the employers for pity reasons. Maruti should stop this plant and move somewhere else.

My sincere condolences to the deceased's family.

[ritz3645]

Every one knows of the this disconnect between management and employees.
Its been there for long.

What surprises me is of the management waiting for things to subside.

If it was another country this is a serious PR disaster.

It shows the thought process of management as if saying this is how we make your vehicles affordable, and profits for Suzuki.

Already reduced weight, bare bone models, with ration shop model on features, so called cheap parts, and uh and any color so far its white or pay more and enter salesmen skill danger zone, waiting time, and made by Rs 7000 contract employees, who may not think twice for doing anything wrong, for they also have stomach to feed.

Originally Posted by bluevolt

This is totally unacceptable. Employees killing the Employer is really a thing of concern.

There must be a strict action against the culprits otherwise this will become a trend and everywhere.

This is no first or last incident.
This is fairly common in organisations which has us vs them mentality, instead of WE.
Sorry Maruti you lost the game on the very basic or foundation which characterise great companies.

Oh but you thought mass manufacture is a USP.

[raul]

This is sad all round. One has to sympathize with the HR manager who has lost his life and the seriously injured executives.

It is premature to pass sweeping judgement on the state, workers, management, unions since we don't know the truth and probably never will.

The important thing is workers in India have the right to be part of unions and the right to strike. In organized segments their rights are enforced and protected, they are not powerless.

So this kind of violence just cannot be justified whatever happened before, beating up a few folks in a fit of rage is one thing but killing someone and attacking folks with rods on their heads is a new level of escalation.

Obviously someone is up to no good here, but even if provoked one would imagine a gainfully employed factory workers with some stability and sense of discipline would think twice before engaging in this level of violence.

The catalyst was a petty issue that could easily be resolved, even if unjust with intervention of senior leaders on both sides, and the workers could have gone on strike to right any perceived injustice.

[SLK]

Originally Posted by raul

So this kind of violence just cannot be justified whatever happened before, beating up a few folks in a fit of rage is one thing but killing someone and attacking folks with rods on their heads is a new level of escalation.

+1 Nothing could be as big to start killing people! The workers are wrong, their side of the story in the news sounds nothing but a school boy excuse.

All these workers need to be punished for murder, no matter if the management was the one who started beating them first and that too without any cause.

[Masda]

What a Shame! My heart goes out to the individual who lost his life.

What if the plant shuts down permanently or relocates to another state? Whose loss is it going to be anyway? How I wish they realize that first, its going to be their own immediate families. That it puts Maruti under tremendous financial pressure and actually dents our country's image is a separate thing altogether.

Violence is not going to solve anything. I hope the Maruti management and workers union realize this SOON!

Maruti should also revisit its employee policies; two unrests in quick succession does indicate something is drastically wrong somewhere. Also wondering, what kind of people they hire?

I know, please forgive my rant on this but at this point I am terribly disturbed about this entire Maruti episode.