The Truth About Maruti Violence
The 18th July violent incident at Maruti Suzuki Manesar plant has been projected largely by the media to be perpetrated by an unruly mob of Maruti workers and very little has been said about the high-handed aggressiveness of the Maruti management in complicity with the govt. machinery. The Haryana govt and the central govt have once again put up an openly pro-management position laying the blame fully on the workers even though the Haryana police had to admit before the press that it was not any pre-meditated action of the workers.
What was the sequence of events that led to the fire and rioting at the HR dept. and time office at the plant and the death of an HR manager? A worker reacting against the rough behaviour and abusive language of a supervisor was suspended during the morning shift on that day. All the workers of that shift demanding revocation of his suspension and proper inquiry into the matter stopped production. Expecting resolution of the dispute through discussion between the management and the union committee they did not go beyond that. On change of shift the morning shift workers remained in the factory while the second shift workers started normal production. But the discussion turned out to be more of an aggressive posturing of the management. Instead of solving the problem of suspension assaults landed on the workers and the groups of workers went berserk giving vent to their anger. Fire and the death resulted in the melee. Even the post-mortem report as reported in the press says that the deceased manager could not come out of the fire because of broken legs and suffered fatal burns.
Still it is being repeatedly highlighted, that the workers suddenly got involved in a mindless violence. It is widely known that since June 4th last year, the workers faced continuing attacks of the Maruti management such as repeated suspensions, police detentions, attacks of bouncers with open collusion of the govt machinery to coerce and deny them whatever avenues of legal redressal exist. The workers have been through this bitter struggle for almost a year just because they wanted registration and recognition of their union to resist what is especially the common feature today, of the big, modern companies like Maruti in new industrial areas, the ruthless service conditions, which is being imposed on the workers concertedly by the capitalists and the govts . Even during this year's demands of workers for their first wage-settlement, about a month back, two committee members were suspended only to be withdrawn under workers' pressure, although the management learning from the repeated outbursts of the workers during the last year put up a more subtle, craftier stance showing their apparent willingness to negotiate a number of workers' issues making way for small reforms while attempting to keep the union committee restricted within factory based negotiations and ensure no further spill-over of the mass workers fighting spirit and struggle out into the area. Through such manouvres the main demands placed for wage-negotiations have been fruitlessly prolonged, rift between the new union committee (after the October 2011 resignation of the earlier) and the mass of workers was sought to be created and to kill the urge of the mass of workers for continuing their initiative for struggle for their rights. But all this, meant to corner the workers, has instead of suppressing the workers pushed them to the brink of their patience. On the other hand the govt. labour department on the alibi that the Maruti management has violated the October 2011 settlement has cunningly been trying to impose upon the workers the ?grievance redressal committee' and ?welfare committee' within the factory, which had been forcibly included in that settlement but could not be implemented because of vehement opposition of the workers after formation of the new union committee. Actually through such bindings of legality also, the management and the govt planned to confine all worker related disputes within the factory-level joint management and labour department body in order to avoid spill-over of the workers dispute and struggle out into the industrial area at large., the very aim with which the central govt has incorporated these new provisions in the ID Act. Naturally it is meaningless to ask who started the fight that have led events up to this. Only those who are trying to find ways to put the onus on the workers can make everyone look at the 18th July incidents detached from this sequence of events. Undoubtedly it is the Maruti management which with the govt at its service from June last year continued in dif ferent ways to coerce and strangle the workers voice.
In fact the broader picture of today's industrial scenario gives a damn to the claim of the different pro-management, pro-capitalist sections who are trying hellishly to project the incidents of Maruti to be the handiwork of some disobedient workers acting as hoodlums. Rather it shows us quite clearly that precipitation of such a situation is not something peculiar happening only in Maruti,. One may recall the incident of a manager's firing on workers in 2010 inside the Allied Nippon factory in Sahibabad that led to the climax of provocation and threats that had been continuing on the CITU-led union workers for almost a year resulting in another similar conflict and the death of a manager. The police there also put the full blame on workers, arresting them from wherever they found them. In Rico, Gurgaon in 2009 the workers struggle to form their union was fired upon by company hired goons from inside the factory in which a worker Ajit Yadav died. The whole industrial belt of Gurgaon. Manesar, Dharuhera was stalled for a day. Did the workers get any justice? Was the employer of Rico arrested? The govt. on the contrary proceeded on a falsely framed case by the management that accused the union leaders including an AITUC leader for the worker's killing until those leaders were compelled to take their dues and leave the company. The workers struggle thus got derailed. In recent times such incidents have increased throughout the country occurring in Grazziano, Pricol, and many other factories especially with workers more and more rising against ruthless exploitation. The govt. and the employers are hell-bent on crushing such workers struggles by any means possible. They are determined to protect the capitalist class' globalization policies at any cost. They are scared of the continuing grass-root factory level mobilization of the worker masses that is increasingly occurring in different factories, of whatever varied kind be the union leadership at the top.
So looking at the 18th July incident as simply a conspiracy by the Maruti employer aided by the govt is completely missing the actual truth. The employers and the govts. are quite planfully targeting and proceeding to scuttle and destroy all such struggles. The 18th incident is only one instance of such intentional precipitation of it. In all such factories initially they are ensuring that all avenues, whatever little that exist, for legal or negotiated redressal of the workers demands for formation of unions, struggle and resolution of their grievances be closed. On the contrary, they are compelling the workers to be pushed and cornered through repeated lingering of the main issues of grievance, and coerce them into submission denying any possibility of a sense of achievement. But even after creating such a situation, if they are unsuccessful in encircling and coercing the fighting workers into submission, then the workers are planfully being pushed further into an act of desperation with the aim of creating anarchy and mayhem so that the alibi to crush the struggle by open action of the police, can be justified. In Maruti on this 18th July, after months of painstaking struggle and organized resistance of the workers, in spite of their several lacking, the employer and the govt. have succeeded in this. At least for the time being. After coercing the thirty leading workers to resign and leave, during the last October agreement, they were still unable to disperse the struggling strength of the Maruti workers. So through the 18th incident the management has made way for a more violent option to eliminate the union and throw out the fighting workers. The govt. machinery naturally turning a blind eye to the actual background of incidents have made it a case of blind violence of the workers hounding out and landing them in jail. The employers and the govts are elated getting the opportunity to label it as a mere law and order problem and crush the workers unity and organizational strength and by that the struggle itself.
Naturally the important question that has been posed now before all workers in similar struggles by the 18th July like incidents of Maruti is, why are a number of these struggles falling in this trap of anarchy? The real answer lay definitely in certain weaknesses of these as yet incipient movements. But before coming to that, another noticeable fact is being revealed by this kind of reactions of the workers involved in different struggles. The workers involved in the thick and thin of their factory-level struggles are adapting themselves through their bitter experiences to show their resolve and staying-power in these long drawn struggles. Inspite of facing tremendous pressure and provocation they are bearing the brunt of the attacks. But most of the times they are fighting these in isolation. Still, like the Maruti struggle, the workers are not easily getting cowed down, continuing to sustain their struggle relying on the fighting strength of their mass of workers and inching towards control and leadership of their struggles instead of depending on the ineffective traditional legalistic methods of the opportunist central trade union leaders. But no wonder the severity of the attacks are on several occasions pushing them to the edge of desperation.
Taking that opportunity the bourgeois media are crying hoarse after the killing of one manager. The management's agents are doing this to put the blame on workers and on that plea are launching a vigorous, bitter, all-out attack on the workers to crush their struggle. But, even if we accept that the workers have done it, is it totally unjustified? Hundreds of fighting workers have been killed by the capitalists, has anybody been punished? Everyday the capitalists are pushing lakhs of workers to the brink of death gradually by their terrible exploitation, why none of them are exposing and protesting against that? This class war, launched by the capitalists' and their servants, the govts , and state machinery are continuing unabatedly. They are launching this class war day in day out. Struggling workers like that of Maruti by their acts are also replying in their own way, against this class war as they are perceiving in the midst of their uneven battle carried on isolatedly in their factories where for the most part they are at the receiving end.
But the ruling capitalist class, the govt. machinery and all kinds of established political parties on the other hand are determined to unitedly push forward the present policies of industrialization as per their plans of globalization. Although at the same time they are becoming more and more aware that it is creating further crisis throughout the world leading to more cuts in livelihoods, and increasing exploitation resulting in rising protests of workers and toiling masses. To combat this they are even ready to create a situation of anarchy and repression in order to crush such revolts. Against that the isolated revolts of the workers, are rising only recently after many many years, in isolated factory-level struggles out of a disintegrated, passive existence with the inadequacy of their matching force against the powerful combined opposition and is quite naturally unable to compensate for it by their factory level unity and strength only. The workers are also realizing this and seeking support from other factory workers.
In spite of that, probably three main weaknesses of the movements in general, are making them fall prey to the employer's trap. In fact even those workers who have not yet fallen into such a trap such weaknesses are having a telling effect on their patience while facing the continuous barrage of attacks on themselves. The first and foremost among these weaknesses is the shortcoming regarding the awareness of the totality of the plan of the capitalist class and the govts., the large overall plan being implemented by this ruling class, utilizing the power of the state, throughout the country, that how much necessary for them it has become to target and crush every such struggle and to what extent they are planning things to do it. Secondly, linked with it is the fact of neglecting the immense importance of giving priority to the building of and sustaining the workers' organizations over the emphasis being put on the immediate realisability of union's particular demands. Organizations not only in the form of unions at the factory level, although very much necessary to resist the employer's assaults, but organizations also of the type that can fulfill the tremendous necessity of regional-level and ultimately national-level unity of the workers principally to counter the attacks of the ruling capitalist class. Such organizations can provide them with the power to resist the combined attack of govt and capitalist helping the workers of numerous other factories also to come out of their disarrayed, adverse condition. Had the workers of Gurgaon Manesar been united under one organization led by the real struggling workers of the area would it be possible for the management to succeed in its 18th July designs?
Thirdly, not yet recognizing the possibility and ability to seize the initiative by the struggling workers themselves to form such workers organization uniting workers across factories and industries, specially uniting the advanced sections among them, to start with, although very preliminary glimpses of such initiatives were seen during the 2009 Rico Gurgaon and to a much greater extent during the 2011 Maruti Manesar struggle. Those initiatives have been still way behind the necessities of the present. In this matter the workers are seen to be still hesitant often only approaching the old, established central trade union leaders for bigger unities, those who are merely interested in spreading the influence of their respective organizations to keep them bound within petty unionism and not for the real fighting unity of the working class to challenge the capitalists' onslaught. Without overcoming these weaknesses the union level struggles are bound to either fall prey to acts of desperation or succumb and surrender to the employers-govt combine. More and more similar incidents like Maruti are showing the rising urge of workers to fight the attacks rather than succumb to it. But the fighting workers must realize that they can come out of this only by directly approaching other factory workers for such a united organization of their struggle. The proper road away from desperation or surrender lay only in arousing the worker masses in larger and larger numbers to prepare for united working class struggle against the capitalist class and their servile govts.. Struggling workers, especially as those from Maruti, have gone successfully through many tests, we hope that such battle-tested workers must be able to accomplish this urgent need of the hour overcoming provocations and temporary setbacks.
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