Upsurging unrest amongst contract labours may spawn another agitation

Loud demonstration of 13 days by the contract workers, demanding for their separate union, at Manesar facility of Maruti India, finally attenuated 11 days back. Industry has suffered heavy losses due to the strike as production of some of the highly demanded Maruti cars was halted, in addition to this, this strike has also delayed the showcase of Maruti India's awaited new version of Maruti Swift. However,Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi remained tight-lipped and annotated that loss of Rs 500-600 crore is negligible for the company.

The reports speculated that contract workers constitute approximately 70-80% of total workforce and they are paid significantly less than permanent employees apart from that they are offered less benefits, in line with this, underlying tension between their aspirations, auto companies' cost considerations and outdated labour laws can anytime spawn another big agitation.

This strike by agitated workers, at Manesar facility of Maruti India, due to upsurging dissatisfaction, was not witnessed for the first time in the history of Indian auto industry, instead it seems to follow the pattern in companies such as Hero Honda, Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI), Hyundai, Ashok Leyland , MRF , Apollo Tyres and Sona Koyo have also faced the same industrial unrest in the past five years. The armistice at these industries seems to be difficult if the demands are not met.

Inflexible and out-of-date labour laws are the key reasons for such industrial unrest. Laws permit to hire and fire contract workers as per the swings in demands thereby constraining their security of job, moreover, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) National Secretary DL Sachdev said that companies have a right to give less remuneration to the contract workers and can anytime fire them without giving prior notice. These factors provoke industrial agitation so dynamicity in labour laws is needed to stabilize the production rate and comforting hum of the industrial relationships.