Demand Maruti Suzuki India and Suzuki Motor Corporation to stop their brutal tactics against agitating workers at Manesar & accept their right to organise

More than 2000 workers of the Maruti Suzuki car factory at Manesar, Gurgaon, India are on strike since last June 4 and are sitting inside the factory itself. Their demands are totally lawful. For now they are just demanding that their legal right to form their own union be recognised. According to them, the Maruti Udyog Workers Union based at the Gurgaon plant which is recognized by the Maruti management is totally under control of management and it has been ignoring the demands of the workers of Manesar factory. As per the labour law, they have all the rights to form their own union and all the workers support this demand. These include a large number of contract workers and apprentice workers who have been working in the factory for years.

But the management of Maruti, in a totally illegal manner, has refused to give recognition to the union and is adopting fascist tactics to break the agitation. It is getting open support from the Congress government of the state of Haryana.

The workers are sitting inside the factory gates for the past 11 days. The management has disconnected the electricity and water supply in the factory premises and even the canteen has been closed down. The workers are sitting in the same dress since June 4 in excruciating summer heat but they remain unfazed and united. Large number of police personnel and armed security guards of Maruti are deployed at the factory gate who stop everyone at a distance of 100 meter from the factory gate. Not even the media persons and the relatives of workers are being allowed to meet the workers. The relatives who take food to the workers inside are also being threatened and intimidated.

Activists of a workers organisation Bigul Mazdoor Dasta who were addressing public meetings in support of the workers agitation in Maruti Suzuki were attacked in Gurgaon and Manesar last evening and this morning by private security guards of Maruti Suzuki and musclemen allegedly hired by the company. 8-9 activists were beaten up, the goons and security guards snatched the pamphlets being distributed and even tried to abduct two of the activists.

The workers had submitted all the relevant documents required for the registration of their union to the office of labour commissioner of Haryana at Chandigarh. The senior most labour official in the state in a blatant act of siding with the management immediately faxed these documents to the management of Maruti Suzuki. After this, the management started pressurising the workers to sign on a blank paper. According to the workers, it was to be used as an undertaking from them that they wanted to remain in the old union itself. It was against the threats and intimidation and forcibly taking signatures that the workers went on strike from June 4 and decided to stay put within the factory itself. The management immediately declared the strike as illegal and the 11 leading workers were dismissed. Even the Haryana government followed suit and has declared the movement as illegal.

The state government is brazenly siding with the management of Maruti Suzuki. For last few days, a farce of negotiations was being played in the presence of the labour minister of the state in which the management remained adamant on not giving recognition to the union and not reinstating the 11 dismissed workers. But the labour minister has given a statement that the kids (i.e. the workers) are committing stupidity. These days it is very difficult to get a job so they must return to work. Openly forsaking his responsibility to enforce the law he has said that now the state government would not intervene between the management and the workers. In other words, the management is free to deal with the workers in whatever manner it wants.

The management is trying to end the strike by tiring out the workers and is using threats and cheap tricks to demoralise them. The contract workers are being forced to take their remaining wages and leave the premises. Even the workers' families are being pressurised to ask them to end the strike. The farce of talks is being extended even while the Maruti Suzuki management is not ready to negotiate on any of the demands. The company has announced that 8 days wages will be deducted for each day of the strike. So if the strike lasts 12 days, the workers will lose more than three months of their wages!

The central unions have played the same role they have been playing in most of the struggles in the past years. Some unions have been trying to "own" the agitation and claiming that the newly formed union is affiliated to them but the reality is that they have done nothing to support this militant strike continuing since July 4 except issuing statements in the media.

At least 2 million workers work in hundreds of units situated in the vast industrial belt in and around Gurgaon. There are around 1 million workers work in the units of automobile industry alone. These workers who produce auto parts for companies from all over the world in modern factories have to work in very bad conditions. More than 90 percent of these are contract workers who work for 10-12 hours for 4000-5000 per month. The workload and speed is extremely high and they have to face verbal abuse and even beatings by the supervisors and security guards. Most of the factories do not have unions and where the workers have managed to form a union, they have to face constant harrassment. The established big unions do nothing except paying lip service to the issues and in many cases have ditched the workers in favour of the management. In this scenario, the issue of the right to form a union is a common and universal issue in the Gurgaon industrial belt.

The workers of Maruti Suzuki, Manesar may earn a little bit more than other workers but they too work in very bad conditions. The work load is very high and sometimes they have to work for even 16 hours at a stretch. Getting a leave or off day is extremely difficult and heavy fines are imposed for even a few minutes delay. They get two short breaks of 7-8 minutes for lunch and tea, even toilet breaks are not allowed in between. They have to face abuses and threats if they refuse to work overtime. This is the reason behind the resolute struggle of the workers to form their separate union.

This petition demands that the top management of Maruti Suzuki India and Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan and the Chief Minister of the state of Haryana must act immediately to stop the repressive and inhuman tactics and accept the just demands of the workers.

We demand:

1. The right of workers to form their union must be recognised.

2. All the 11 dismissed workers must be taken back.

3. The decision to declare the strike illegal must be revoked and the workers must not be penalised or victimised for the strike.