India: Maruti Suzuki lancia una caccia alle streghe contro i lavoratori/FRONTLINE OF REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE, India: Peggiorano le

India: Maruti Suzuki lancia una caccia alle streghe contro i lavoratori

+ NTUI, 19.07.2012, I salariati di Maruti Suzuki Manesar: resistono contro la violenza di casta – brutale repressione

+ FRONTLINE OF REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE, India: Peggiorano le disastrose condizioni per I lavoratori dell’auto, e aumenta la ribellione

–   Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) e il governo del partito del Congresso dello Stato indiano di Haryana hanno lanciato una caccia alla streghe contro i 3000 salariati del gruppo auto, a seguito della loro lotta:

–   oltre 90 gli arrestati;

–   serrata degli stabilimenti, che verranno riaperti solo quando sarà terminata l’indagine sugli scontri e la morte di un dirigente della fabbrica, e prese le necessarie misure (licenziamento dei militanti operai).

–    Il ministro per il lavoro e l’impiego dello stato di Haryana ha appoggiato la serrata.

–   La direzione aziendale ha licenziato un lavoratore a tempo indeterminato, che protestava a seguito per i commenti “di casta” di un capo-reparto (il lavoratore è un dalit: i cosiddetti intoccabili, secondo il sistema delle caste hindu);

o   i compagni lavoratori hanno protestato e chiesto l’immediata revoca del licenziamento e provvedimenti contro il capo-reparto; durante la riunione tra i lavoratori i loro rappresentanti sindacali di Maruti Suzuki Workers Union[e] (MSWU) e la direzione diverse centinaia di gorilla provocatori al soldo di MSI hanno attaccato i lavoratori con pugnali e armi.

o   Incendiati di edifici aziendali, intervento di migliaia di poliziotti chiamati dalla direzione, arresto dei lavoratori;

o   diversi feriti tra i lavoratori, portati in ospedale; il manager delle risorse umane trovato cadavere.

o   La polizia ha lanciato una caccia per trovare il lavoratore licenziato, promettendo un premio di 500 rupie ($9).

–   La direzione MSI ha chiaramente provocato gli incidenti per impedire la protesta dei lavoratori, incolpandoli per gli scontri e l’incendio, e presentando denuncia contro i funzionari sindacali.

–   Nel 2011 i lavoratori di SMI hanno lottato per 4 mesi contro le condizioni di lavoro, salari minimi, lavoro a contratto, autoritarismo e persecuzione dei lavoratori militanti, diversi gli scioperi e due occupazioni della fabbrica, seguite da un mese di serrata, repressione poliziesca e attacchi dei picchiatori. I sindacati hanno interrotto la lotta e fatto tornare al lavoro ad ottobre, senza che le rivendicazioni fondamentali fossero state accolte.

 

–   WSWS: principali responsabili del soffocamento delle lotte operaie sono le federazioni sindacali della cintura industriale di Gurgaon-Manesar, soprattutto All India Trade Union[e] Congress (AITUC), legata al partito stalinista d’India (CPI) e il Centre of Indin Trade Unions 8CITU), legato al Partito Comunista d’India (Marxista), CPM,

 

o   nonostante ci fossero ripetuti segnali di un movimento più ampio in appoggio ai lavoratori di Manesar: scioperi di solidarietà di circa 12 000 lavoratori di altri stabilimenti Suzuki nell’area,

 

o   i sindacati stalinisti hanno spinto i lavoratori a fidarsi del governo, dei suoi funzionari e dei tribunali, anziché della lotta di classe.

 

–   La repressione padronale di MSI è legata al tentativo di tutta la borghesia indiana di aumentare la produttività e tagliare i salari, in una fase di crisi economica e di recessione.

 

 

o   2011-2012, il tasso di crescita indiano al 6,5%, il minore degli ultimi nove anni;

 

o   2010-2011 vendita di auto in India + 30%; 2011-2012 +2,19%

 

.

–   […] L’ondata di violenza in corso presso le fabbriche Maruti Suzuki di Maresa riflette il continuo utilizzo della “casta” come metodo di subordinazione e repressione, che a sua volta riflette la persistenza di strutture primordiali sociali profondamente radicate, che integrano lo sfruttamento capitalista.

–   La direzione di Maruti Suzuki non ha ancora costituito la commissione di conciliazione [commissione interna] e quella per il welfare, come concordato nel conflitto dell’ottobre 2011.

–   Il conflitto in corso è creato dalla direzione per sviare i negoziati in corso sulla carta delle rivendicazioni presentata dal sindacato dei lavoratori di Maruti Suzuki ad aprile, e screditare la loro lotta unitaria.

–   NTUI condanna l’uso della violenza della direzione Suzuki per reprimere le proteste dei lavoratori in difesa dei loro diritti umani e democratici e logorare il sindacato;

–   NTUI condanna anche la collaborazione del governo di Haryana e della polizia di Gurgaon con la direzione di Maruti Suzuki, arrestando 100 lavoratori, compresi dirigenti sindacali e attivisti

–   […] nonostante sia in corso un procedimento contro Maruti Suzuki per aver violato le disposizioni dell’accordo del 19 ott. 2011 per lo stabilimento di Manesar.

NTUI chiede alla direzione di MSI:

–   la fine immediata della serrata della fabbrica di Manesar;

–   l’immediato reintegro del lavoratore sospeso;

–   il ritiro delle false accuse contro i lavoratori da parte della polizia di Haryana;

–   il rispetto del diritto di associazione …

NTUI chiede che il governo dello Stato di Haryana

–   fermi immediatamente gli arresti arbitrari e immotivati di lavoratori e leader sindacali …

–   dichiari immediatamente illegale la serrata …

–   avvii procedimento contro la direzione di MSI per violazione dell’accordo …

–   si assicuri che le società operanti in Haryana rispettino le leggi, comprese quelle che proteggono i diritti dei lavoratori.

Frontline of Revolutionary Struggle[2] (maoisti)

●    Peggiorano le pessime condizioni dei lavoratori dell’auto

–   in aprile negoziati per aumenti salariali nell’area di produzione auto di Gurgaon-Manesar, e nelle fabbriche di componenti di Haridwar.

–   La Reserve Bank of India avverte contro la pressione di inflazione generalizzata derivante forti aumenti nei costi salariali.

–   Quali sono i salari industriali?

–   Negli ultimi anni c’è stato un aumento di lotte dei lavoratori, soprattutto nell’auto e nella componentistica

o   (gli esempi più rilevanti: Mahindra (Nashik), maggio 2009 e marzo 2011; Sunbeam Auto (Gurgaon), maggio 2009; Bosch Chassis (Pune), luglio 2009; Honda Motorcycle (Manesar), agosto 2009; Rico Auto (Gurgaon), agosto 2009, compreso una giornata di scipero in tutto il settore a Gurgaon; Pricol (Coimbatore), settembre 2009; Volvo (Hoskote, Karnataka), agosto 2010; MRF Tyres (Chennai), ottobre 2010 e giugno 2011; General Motors (Halol, Gujarat), marzo 2011; Maruti Suzuki (Manesar), giugno-ottobre 2011; Bosch (Bangalore), settembre 2011; Dunlop (Hooghly), ottobre 2011; Caparo (Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu), dicembre 2011; Dunlop (Ambattur, Tamil Nadu), febbraio 2012; Hyundai (Chennai) aprile e dicembre 2011-gennaio 2012).

–   La protesta è centrata nel settore auto, ma non limitata ad esso; il settore auto è cresciuto molto velocemente negli ultimi anni: da 8,5 mn. di veicoli del 2004-2005 a 20,4 mn. nel 2011-2012;

–   Veicoli passeggeri da 1,2 mn a 3 mn. nel 2010-2011.

–   I salari reali del settore hanno continuato a calare dal 2000-2001 al 2009-2010; sono aumentati solo nominalmente; al netto dall’inflazione -18,9% (Indice prezzi al consumo per i lavoratori dell’industria).

●    2000/2001 – 2009/2010: Il valore aggiunto per lavoratore è in aumento, 2,9 lakh à 7,9 lakh

I nell’auto sono calati: 27,4% à 15,4%.

–    nel 2000/2011 un lavoratore dell’auto lavorava 2 h e 12 minuti per la sopravvivenza sua e della famiglia, le restanti 5 h e 48 minuti generavano plusvalore;

–   nel 2009/2010 rispettivamente 1 h e 12 minuti contro 6 h e 48 minuti.

–   Questo non è solo il risultato di un aumento di produttività,

–   ma della lotta di classe condotta dal capitalista contro i lavoratori, che ha portato alla riduzione di quasi 1/5 dei salari reali.

–   Un importante fronte di questa lotta di classe sono le leggi non scritte contro la formazione di sindacati indipendenti; una delle più importanti rivendicazioni delle recenti agitazioni operaie è stata il diritto di costituire il loro sindacato.

–   Il padronato ha risposto ricorrendo a licenziamenti, procedimenti penali, repressine violenta, compresi omicidi.

–   Il tedesco Bosch ha respinto tre tentativi di creare un sindacato; la cosa si è ripetuta ovunque, presso Hyundai, Hero Honda, Wonjin, Maruti Suzuki, Graziano, Rico Auto.

o   Quando 1800 lavoratori temporanei della fabbrica Hero Honda di Dharuvera hanno cercato di aderire ad un loro sindacato, i loro dirigenti sono stati accusati di tentativo di omicidio.

o   Nel 2009 i lavoratori di Rico Auto sono stati attaccati da picchiatori, uno lavoratore è stato ucciso.

o   2011 agitazione presso Maruti, il governo di Hryana ha operato come braccio della direzione di Maruti.

o   I gruppi dell’auto stanno spostando la produzione nel Gujarat.

–   Altro modo complementare per abbassare i salari:

o   assumere lavoratori a contratto, apprendisti, in formazione, a salario inferiore di quell a tempo indeterminato.

o   Secondo nuovi rapporti, nell’area di Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal fuori di Delhi, che conta per circa il 60% della produzione auto dell’India, l’80% del circa 1 milione di lavoratori, è assunta a contratto.

o   Negli ultimi due decenni si è avuta una enorme crescita del lavoro a contratto industriale, a fronte di una irrisoria crescita complessiva della forza lavoro.

o   Ad es., nello stabilimento Maruti Suzuki Idia di Manesar c’erano 970 lavoratori a tempo indeterminato; 400-500 in “formazione”; 1 100 a contratto; 200-300 “apprendisti”; stessa situazione ovunque: nel West Bengala e Gujarat il 60-70% dei lavoratori del manifatturiero erano a contratto (Institute of Economic Growth), il triplo di quelli riportati dall’ Annual Survey of Industries.

o   I lavoratori a contratto sono quelli più colpiti dall’inflazione, dato che il loro salario non è indicizzato; hanno ora raggiunto il limite del tollerabile e rispondono lottando per ricuperare le perdite salariali.

– I salari reali del settore industriale complessivo sono inferiori nel 209/2010 rispetto al 2000/2001;

–   la quota dei ha continuato a scendere nel periodo

–   Questo il quadro che fa da sfondo alla cosiddetta violenza operaia denunciata dai media, cioè la resistenza operaia. Due recenti esempi: a Yanan, a gennaio hanno scioperato 800 lavoratori a contratto di Regency Ceramics chiedendo l’assunzione a tempo indeterminato e la revisione dei salari.

o   Il 27 gennaio, la polizia ha attaccato i loro picchetti uccidendo il presidente del sindacato e ferendone altri.

o   I lavoratori hanno risposto attaccando il presidente della società, che è in seguito morto, e devastando edifici;

o   Gurgaon, marzo 2012, lavoratori a contratto di Orient Craft (abbigliamento che fornisce catene internazionali come Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY e Gap) hanno protestato per la riduzione di due giornate del salario perché congedati di domenica; l’appaltatore ha assalito un lavoratore con un paio di fornici, il migliaio di lavoratori ha incendiato i veicoli della società ed un’auto della polizia.

Secondo i dati dell’Ufficio del Lavoro il calo salariale non è limitato al settore industriale; i salari reali sono calati anche nelle aree rurali nel periodo 2004/2005-2008/2009. Questo ha contribuito ad abbassare i salari industriali, che non hanno alternative nei villaggi.

India: Maruti Suzuki launches witch-hunt against workers

–   After a major altercation between the workers and the management at the Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) car assembly plant in Manesar, around 40 km south of New Delhi, the company and Congress-led Haryana state government have launched a massive witch-hunt against over 3,000 workers. Already more than 90 workers have been arrested and the police are hunting other workers who have fled the area in fear of a witch-hunt.

–   On Saturday, MSI declared a lockout at the plant, citing the “safety” of its officials. Company Chairman R.C. Bhargava said in a press conference that the production will not resume until an investigation is completed into the incident in which a plant executive was killed, and corrective steps are taken.

–   What these steps are become clear by his reply to a question whether some workers involved in the incident can be taken back. He said: “If guys are no risks they can be taken back. If they are the cause of trouble, they cannot come back.” This means militant workers will be sacked.

–   The labor and employment minister of Haryana state, Shiv Charan Sharma, backed the lockout as “appropriate.”

–   On Wednesday seizing on a conflict provoked by a supervisor’s arrogant casteist remarks against a worker, plant management suspended the worker. That led to a workers’ agitation demanding action against the supervisor rather than the worker. When the workers with the leaders of their union, the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union[e] (MSWU), were discussing the issue with management, several hundred goons began to brutally attack the workers.

–   Factory premises were set on fire, leading to considerable damage. Thousands of police, called by management, went ahead with arresting workers.

–   Several workers and members of management staff were injured and hospitalised. One body was found burned beyond recognition and later identified as Awanish Kumar Dev, the general manager of human resources.

–   MSI management blamed the workers for the altercation and fire and filed affidavits against union[e] officials. It is trying to transform the incident into a witch-hunt against workers and the union[e]. It claimed that workers attacked management staff without provocation and set fire to the factory.

–   However, it is clear that the MSI management deliberately provoked the altercation to intimidate workers and suppress the development of any opposition to the slave-labour conditions imposed by the company.

–   Disputing management’s claims, MSWU President Ram Meher said in a statement: “[I]n a pre-planned manner, yesterday, the afternoon of 18th July, a supervisor in the shop floor abused and made casteist comments against a dalit [so-called untouchables according to the Hindu caste system] worker of the permanent category, which was legitimately protested by the worker.

–   “Instead of taking action against the said supervisor, the management immediately suspended the worker concerned without any investigation as was demanded by the workers. When the workers along with union[e] representatives went to meet the HR [human resources officials] to demand the company act against the supervisor and revoke the unjust suspension of the worker, the HR officials flatly refused to hear our arguments, and were in no mood to resolve the issue amicably.

–   “When the negotiation was going on with the leaders of the union[e] inside the office, management called in hundreds of bouncers on its payroll to attack the workers… The gates were closed by security on behest of the management and the bouncers brutally attacked the workers with sharp weapons and arms.

–   They, joined by some of the managerial staff and later the police, beat up a number of workers, who have had to be hospitalised with serious injuries. The bouncers, who are anti-social elements on hire, also destroyed company property and set fire to a portion of the factory. The gates were later opened to oust the workers and enforce a lockout by the company…”

–   Speaking to the WSWS, a Maruti Suzuki worker confirmed Meher’s version: “It was a supervisor who provoked a worker with casteist remarks and later his suspension that was objected to by all other workers. The outraged workers demanded immediate revocation of the suspension order. But management arrogantly refused and called the police and thugs to attack the workers. Today [Thursday] the police started hunting fleeing workers with a loudspeaker announcement that those who help to catch a Maruti Suzuki worker will be awarded 500 rupees” ($US9).

While MSI management has targeted the MSWU as a part of its campaign to intimidate workers into submission, the union[e] has no independent perspective to fight management’s plans. The union[e] has sought to win workers’ demands through a compromise with management.

–   According to Meher’s statement, in April the MSWU “submitted our Charter of Demands to the management of Maruti Suzuki, and the process of negotiation for wages and other demands was under way.”

While blaming management for its provocations to “derail the process and break the back of the spirit of unity of the workers and the legitimacy of the union,” he stated that the union[e] is keen to sit down to talks with the company and government officials to resolve the dispute.

–   Confirming his administration’s role in launching police witch-hunt against MSI workers, on behalf of the company, Haryana industry minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said of the arrested workers: “They have been arrested for various charges including murder, attempt to murder and destruction of property.” He accused the workers of acting in accordance with “certain type of political thoughts that have cropped up to derail development as these elements are envious of progress.”

–   Last year MSI workers waged a four-month-long determined struggle against the sweatshop conditions—meager wages, contract labor, authoritarian work rules and victimization of militant workers—with repeated strikes and two factory occupations, facing a month-long lockout, police repression and goon violence.

–   Finally in October, without their basic demands being met, the workers were sent back to work by the unions, including the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union[e] (MSEU), the union[e] which majority of Manesar workers had joined at that time. The unions asked them to sign the company’s dictatorial “good conduct” bond.

–   The principal role in strangling the Manesar MSI workers’ militant struggle was played by the trade union[e] federations active in the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt—especially the All India Trade Union[e] Congress (AITUC), affiliated to the Stalinist Communist Party of India (CPI), and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the union[e] federation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM. They joined with the other union[e] federations to contain and suppress support for the Manesar MSI workers’ struggle, while pressuring the MSEU to reach a “compromise” with the company.

–   Amidst repeated indications of a broader movement of workers in support of the Manesar workers, expressed through sympathy strikes by about 12,000 workers in other Suzuki plants in the area, the Stalinist unions asked Manesar workers to put their faith not in the working class but in the Congress-led state government, its labor officials and courts. They appealed to the Congress state government to intervene on behalf of workers, while it was working hand-in-glove with MSI management.

–   Moves by MSI to launch a witch-hunt against workers to subject them to sweatshop conditions are bound up with attempts by the Indian bourgeoisie to increase productivity and slash wages as the capitalists face an economic crisis under the impact of a growing global recession. India’s growth rate has fallen to a nine-year low of 6.5 percent in 2011-12. After registering robust yearly growth of nearly 30 percent in 2010-11, car sales in India grew by just 2.19 percent in 2011-12. After expanding at a brisk pace in March, sales of most car makers either declined or rose only marginally in April. MSI, the largest car maker, reported a 1.3 percent decline in passenger car sales in April.

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Maruti Suzuki Manesar Workers: Resisting Caste Violence – Facing Brutal Repression:

–   PRESS RELEASE: 19 July, 2012, New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki Manesar Workers: Resisting Caste Violence – Facing Brutal Repression: The present spate of violence at the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki as a fallout of a protest by workers against a casteist comment made by a supervisor at a dalit worker reflects the continuing use of ‘caste’ as a method of subordination and oppression reflecting the persistence of deeply rooted primordial structures of society that complement capitalist exploitation. When co-workers protested, the management suspended the abused worker and refused to re-instate him and instead resorted to brutal violence, orchestrated by goons, against the workers and targeting the union[e] leaders.

–   It is important to note that the Maruti Suzuki management is yet to constitute the Grievance Redressal Committee and the Welfare Committee at its Manesar plant which was agreed upon after the last dispute in October 2011. The present dispute is a well planned instigation by the management to systematically derail the ongoing negotiations on the Charter of Demands submitted by the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union[e] in April 2012 and to discredit the sustained and united struggle of the workers at the Manesar plant.

–   The New Trade Union[e] Initiative condemns the use of wanton violence by the Maruti Suzuki management to suppress workers’ protests in defence of their human and democratic rights and disrupt the union. The NTUI also condemns the manner in which the Government of Haryana and the Gurgaon police have consorted with the Maruti Suzuki management by arresting over 100 workers including union[e] leaders and key activists without conducting due investigation and pre-supposing that the workers are solely responsible for the violence.

–   This position of continued support to the Maruti Suzuki of the Government of Haryana demonstrates the lack of political will to protect workers in the state despite its own Labour Department initiating proceedings against Maruti Suzuki for violating the provisions of signed agreement of October 19, 2011 at its Manesar plant.

NTUI demands that the management of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. –

• Immediately lift the illegal lockout at the Manesar Plant

• Immediately and unconditionally reinstate the suspended worker

• Withdraw all false criminal charges filed against workers with the Haryana Police

• Respect the Right to Association and negotiate in good faith with the democratically elected Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Union.

●    NTUI demands that the Government of Haryana

• Immediately Stop the arbitrary and motivated arrests of workers and union[e] leaders by the Gurgaon police without following due investigation and release all workers arrested so far.

• Immediately declare the lockout at the Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s Manesar Plant to be illegal

• Initiate Prosecution proceedings against management of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. for gross violation of the agreement of 19 October 2011.

• Ensure that companies operating in the State of Haryana respect the laws of the land including laws that protect the rights of workers.

B-137, First Floor, Dayanand Colony | Lajpat Nagar – IV | New Delhi – 110024

[This week’s militant rebellion and workstoppage of autoworkers at the Maruti Suzuki plant in the Delhi area has brought with it typical (unsubstantiated) bourgeois media speculation about Maoists or Naxalites sparking the whole thing off. But, as Mao Zedong said, "Where there is oppression, there follows resistance." It is the oppressive character of capitalist exploitation itself that gives rise to the rebellion of the workers–at times, beyond the limits of trade unionist arrangements. In this article, by RUPE’s journal "Aspects of India’s Economy" the changing conditions the autoworkers are confronting, are described. — Frontlines ed.]

“Motown braces for wage revisions after three years”, reads a headline in the Business Standard on April 6, referring to wage negotiations in the Gurgaon-Manesar auto belt. “Haridwar factories brew Manesar-like labour situation” warns another headline in the same paper, reporting strikes at two major auto parts suppliers. The Reserve Bank of India, in its latest “Monetary and Macroeconomic Developments”, warns of the “pressure on generalised inflation from sustained increase in wage costs”.

What is happening to industrial wage levels? Is the prosperity of which the ruling establishment speaks now ‘trickling down’ to workers? Do workers now have the upper hand, and are they grabbing a bigger share of value added?

–   The last few years have indeed seen a rise in labour unrest, particularly in the auto and auto parts sector. Among the prominent instances are: Mahindra (Nashik), May 2009 and March 2011; Sunbeam Auto (Gurgaon), May 2009; Bosch Chassis (Pune), July 2009; Honda Motorcycle (Manesar), August 2009; Rico Auto (Gurgaon), August 2009, including a one-day strike of the entire auto industry in Gurgaon; Pricol (Coimbatore), September 2009; Volvo (Hoskote, Karnataka), August 2010; MRF Tyres (Chennai), October 2010 and June 2011; General Motors (Halol, Gujarat), March 2011; Maruti Suzuki (Manesar), June-October 2011; Bosch (Bangalore), September 2011; Dunlop (Hooghly), October 2011; Caparo (Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu), December 2011; Dunlop (Ambattur, Tamil Nadu), February 2012; Hyundai (Chennai) April and December 2011-January 2012; and so on.

–   Unrest is not limited to the auto industry, but it has been centered there. The auto industry has grown very rapidly in the last few years: From 8.5 million vehicles (including two wheelers, three wheelers, passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles) in 2004-05, production has risen to 20.4 million in 2011-12. Passenger car production has risen from 1.2 million vehicles in 2004-05 to 3 million in 2010-11 (and probably further in 2011-12). The auto industry is a well-known ‘success story’ of the rapid growth of the last decade, and the Government is set on making India a global manufacturing ‘hub’ for automobiles, with the help of large State subsidies.1

–   On the other hand, it is a well-kept secret that real wages in the auto sector – i.e., after discounting for inflation – actually fell continuously in the period 2000-01 to 2009-10. (The latest data available from the Annual Survey of Industries [ASI] are for 2009-10.) True, annual wages in the motor vehicles industry rose in nominal terms from Rs 79,446 in 2000-01 to Rs 88,671 in 2004-05 to Rs 109,575 in 2009-10.

–   However, the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) consistently rose more steeply than wages. So real wages in the auto industry fell 18.9 per cent between 2000-01 and 2009-10. (See Chart 1.)

On the other hand, net value added2 per auto worker has been rising, barring a dip in the years of the slowdown in the economy. Each worker added value of Rs 2.9 lakh in 2000-01; this figure rose by 2009-10 to Rs 7.9 lakh (see Chart 2).

Naturally, wages as a share of value added have been falling, as can be seen in Chart 3. In 2000-01 workers’ wages were 27.4 per cent of value added. By 2009-10, the ratio had fallen to 15.4 per cent.

To put this in Marxist terms, let us think of the working day as made up of two parts. In one part the worker works to generate his/her subsistence (and that of his/her family, thereby ensuring there will be workers in future as well). In that time, the value the worker adds to the inputs is equivalent to the wage he/she gets.3

But the worker can’t stop working at that point, because the capitalist has bought his/her capacity to work (labour power) for the full working day. (And the worker, owning no means of production, has no choice but to sell that labour power in order to survive.) He/she continues to labour for the rest of the working day, whether it be a day of 8, 10, 12, or 16 hours. The additional hours are surplus labour time, which we can also express in money terms. This goes to the capitalist. Of course, the capitalist also may pay, out of the surplus, interest to banks, rent to the owner of the land, wages to management personnel, and so on, but all these others take a share of the surplus through the capitalist.

–   In these terms, we can say that in 2000-01, an auto worker spent 2 hours 12 minutes of an 8-hour shift working for his4 own subsistence and that of his family. He spent most of the remaining 5 hours and 48 minutes generating surplus for the capitalist (and the banks, landowners, management personnel, and so on). By 2009-10, the ratio had deteriorated: The auto worker now spent just 1 hour 12 minutes working for his own subsistence and that of his family, and the remaining 6 hours 48 minutes working largely for the capitalist.5

–   How did this deterioration take place? It was not merely a story of growing worker productivity, the ability to produce more per hour with new technology. As we saw above, workers’ wages actually fell in real terms by almost one-fifth. Active class struggle was being waged – by the employers against the workers.

–   One major front of this class struggle is the unwritten law against the formation of independent unions in the auto sector. Perhaps the single most important demand of the workers in recent agitations has been the right to form their own union; in most cases workers have still not been successful in doing so. Methods employed by the employers include sacking, foisting of criminal cases, beating, and even killing.

–   The German auto parts manufacturer Bosch successfully resisted three attempts at formation of a union. The story is the same everywhere – Hyundai, Hero Honda, Wonjin, Maruti Suzuki, Graziano, Rico Auto.

–   When 1,800 casual workers of the Dharuvera plant of Hero Honda sought to join the union[e] of their choice, cases under the Arms Act and Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (attempt to murder) were filed against the leaders.6

–   In Rico Auto, Gurgaon, workers were attacked by thugs in 2009, leading to the death of one worker.

–   In the Maruti agitation of 2011, the Haryana labour department, indeed the entire Haryana government, operated like a wing of the management.

–   Auto firms are shifting their operations to Gujarat, quite blatantly stating that they are doing so in order to “union-proof” their production (i.e., they hope Mr Modi will take care of such troublemakers).

–   An equally important, and complementary, method of wage-depression is the hiring of contract, ‘trainee’, and ‘apprentice’ workers, at a fraction of the wages of the permanent workers.

–   According to news reports, in the Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal zone outside Delhi, which accounts for about 60 per cent of auto production in India, 80 per cent of the estimated one million workers are hired on contract.7

–   In Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant, there were 970 permanent workers, 400-500 ‘trainees’, 1,100 contract workers, and 200-300 ‘apprentices’.8 The situation is no different elsewhere in India.

–   An Institute of Economic Growth survey of workers in West Bengal and Gujarat found that 60-70 per cent of workers in manufacturing were contract labour – a figure three three times that in the Annual Survey of Industries for those states (ASI data are drawn from returns submitted by companies themselves).9

–   The last two decades have witnessed a massive growth in the share of contract labour in the industrial workforce, even as the total workforce has grown at a paltry rate.

–   Contract workers have been worst hit by price rise, since their wages are not indexed. They have seen a steep fall in real wages. They have reached the limit of their tolerance, and are now fighting back. It is the attempt of workers to make up a part of their real wage losses over the last decade, and particularly the last few years, or at least to prevent a further slide, that accounts for their current increased militancy.

–   Of course, auto workers are merely an outstanding instance of a general trend. As can be seen from Charts 4 and 5, real wages in 2009-10 in the factory sector as a whole were lower than in 2000-01, though the decline was not as steep as in the auto sector. And wages as a proportion of value added in the factory sector saw a steady decline over the period.

–   This is the background to the rising incidence of what the media refer to as violence – i.e., not the routine violence of the management, but the resistance of the workers. Two recent examples: At Yanam (a pocket near Kakinada, A.P., which belongs to Puducherry), 800 contract workers of Regency Ceramics were on strike in January 2012 demanding permanency and wage revision. The police attacked their picket lines on January 27, killing their union[e] president and injuring some others.

–   The enraged workers retaliated by attacking the president of the company, resulting in his later death, and ransacking and burning various properties of the owners.

–   In Gurgaon, on March 19, 2012, contract workers of Orient Craft (a garment exporter that supplies international chains such as Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY and the Gap) protested being docked two days’ pay for taking leave on Sunday. In response, a contractor attacked a worker with a pair of scissors. The thousand-strong workforce retaliated by burning down company vehicles and a police car. The court released the contractor on bail and sent the arrested workers to custody.

–   According to Labour Bureau data, the fall in real wages is not restricted to industrial labour. Remarkably, despite the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), real wages in the rural areas too fell during the period 2004-05 to 2008-9.10

–   This might be bad news for industries producing cheap mass consumption goods, but they make up less and less of the corporate sector. Low rural wages, and low rural incomes overall, have been good news for the corporate sector in another sense: they have helped depress industrial wages, because the alternative in the villages has been so bleak.

1. See Aspects of India’s Economy no. 45, http://www.rupe-india.org/44/private.html (back)

2. The difference between the value of the physical inputs and the value of the output, minus depreciation. (back)

3. To simplify this example, we ignore the need to replace worn-out machinery and other conditions of production. (back)

5. These are the shares between one worker and the capitalist; but of course the capitalist gets the surplus generated by all the workers in his factory. So in a factory of 1,000 workers, the capitalist gets 6,800 hours of surplus labour per day. (back)

6. “MNCs can’t wish unions away”, Heena Khan, Business Line (22/9/2011). (back)

7. “Maruti workers-management talks to resume today”, Business Standard (6/6/2011). (back)

8. “Workers’ struggle in Maruti-Suzuki”, Prasenjit Bose and Sourindra Ghosh, Hindu (28/9/2011). (back)

9. 60-70 per cent of industrial workers in Bengal, Gujarat are contract labour”, Business Line (22/7/2009). (back)

10. See Yoshifumi Usami, “A Note on Recent Trends in Wage Rates”, Review of Agrarian Studies, Vol. I, no. 1, January-June 2011, http://ras.org.in/a_note_on_recent_trends_in_wage_rates_in_rural_india. Usami writes: “nominal wage rates grew fast, but the deflator, i.e. Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour and Consumer Price Index for Rural Labour, rose much faster.” For some data of 2009-10, see http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/the-truth-behind-rural-wages-in-india/452453/. (back)