On 26 September 2015, brutal lathi-charge and crackdown was unleashed on the protesting Maruti workers in Manesar. In early hours of 26 September, nearly 2000 casual workers had sat on a strike at the factory gate protesting against the anti-worker attitude of the Maruti administration. The management of the Maruti Factory in Manesar had been regularly deploying fraudulent ways to take work from the casual workers. The management had been taking work from them on the assurance that they would be made regular after a period of six months, but several of these workers had finished several such six month periods without being made regular. The workers expectedly were feeling cheated the management. The workers had also been unhappy and angry about the failure of the government to ensure ‘equal wages for equal work’ under the labour laws.
An AICCTU fact finding team that included Delhi AICCTU President, Com. V.K.S. Gautam and members of the JNU unit of All India Kaamgaar Union, Com. Lillu and Com. Satyawaan, visited the Maruti plant in Manesar on 27 September 2015.
During the interaction with the fact finding team, the workers shared that the management once again proved its anti-workers attitude when all the causal workers were kept out of the provisions of the wage agreement that took place prior to the 26 September strike. It must be noted that these casual workers, who are being made to work using fraudulent means and false promises, constitute a major part of the production process that contributes to the increasing profits of the Maruti.
There are 5-6 casual workers and 2 apprentices per every two permanent worker in the Maruti factory. By using various terminologies such as permanent, casual, apprentice, contractual worker, etc., workers are being recruited and subjected to severe exploitation. The workers also continue to be angered and pained by the refusal of the Maruti management to take back nearly 2300 workers who were illegally thrown out in August 2012.
During the interactions with the fact finding team, the workers shared that on the morning of 26 September, the Maruti management called for bouncers from nearby areas and instructed them to assault the peacefully striking workers. Several strikers were brutally injured. Most of the casual workers who were ruthlessly beaten were 17-20 year old youths. Haryana police which on earlier occasions has also demonstrated its loyalty to the factory owners by always siding with them, continued to display the same attitude as soon after its arrival it immediately arrested two comrades- Jeetendra and Khushiram, while failing to protect from them from being beaten up. Worse, the arrested workers were again severely beaten up by the police in custody. In the lathi-charge unleashed by the police also several workers were gravely injured.
It is not new for the Haryana government to stand in solidarity with the capitalists who have frequently made mockery of labour laws. The actions of police controlled by the BJP government in Haryana are no different from the actions of the police during the rule of the Congress government. It is clear that be it Congress or BJP, both are only too eager to act as agents of the capital and will not refrain from oppressing the working class. Earlier, on 2 September 2015, during the All India Workers’ Strike, thousands of workers of Maruti Factory had participated in the strike proving that no amount of oppression can deter them from fighting for their rights. During the fact finding team’s visit, Com. Gautam pledged AICCTU’s solidarity with the workers of the Maruti factory and assured them that in coming days AICCTU will stand with them and fight along with them in order to intensify the movement.
