[Reader-list] Fwd: workers newsletter from gurgaon, india

[Jeebesh Bagchi]

An excellent newsletter about working lives in the huge production  
region that surrounds the capital.

a must read.

best
jeebesh

Begin forwarded message:

> From: gurgaon workers news <gurgaon_workers_news at yahoo.co.uk>
> Date: 5 April 2007 10:02:08 AM GMT+05:30
> To: gurgaon_workers_news at yahoo.co.uk
> Subject: workers newsletter from gurgaon, india
>
> Gurgaon Workers News - Newsletter 2 (April 2007)
>
> Dear friends,
>
> the following newsletter from Gurgaon is also meant as a proposal  
> to people in the wider NCR area to meet on a regular basis in order  
> to discuss local workers' struggle related issues. Particularly the  
> industrial areas in the South of Delhi have turned into a  
> production location of global capital. We find a similar  
> composition of capital and work-force, e.g. in the export zones in  
> southern Vietnam and China or in the maquiladoras at the US-Mexican  
> border-area. In all these boom patches a new generation of workers  
> has entered the scene and with them new forms and aspirations of  
> workers' struggles. The aim of a regular meeting would be to  
> understand the net of productive units, the circulation of the work- 
> force, the first signs of antagonism. This would include: to  
> analyse the production chains and contractor pools and bring the  
> info back to workers; to re-capitulate some of the recent struggles  
> in the area and to keep an open eye for (often sub-terrainian)  
> forms of workers' unrest; to relate the local situation to similar  
> developments in other regions and to try to form some links. All  
> this cannot be an academic exercise, final aim would be to develop  
> a proletarian analysis together with workers in the area, to share  
> the experiences made at work or in struggle, e.g. by publishing a  
> regular leaftlet in Hindi and to provide practical support in times  
> of unrest. If you are interested in such kind of meeting, please  
> drop us an e-mail...   Gurgaon Workers News - Newsletter 2 (April  
> 2007)
>
> Gurgaon in Haryana is presented as the shining India, a symbol of  
> capitalist success promising a better life for everyone behind the  
> gateway of development. At first glance the office towers and  
> shopping malls reflect this chimera and even the front facades of  
> the garment factories look like three star hotels. Behind the  
> facade, behind the factory walls and in the side streets of the  
> industrial areas thousands of workers keep the rat-race going,  
> producing cars and scooters for the middle-classes which end up in  
> the traffic jam on the new highway between Delhi and Gurgaon.  
> Thousands of young middle class people lose time, energy and  
> academic aspirations on night-shifts in call centres, selling  
> credits to working-class people in the US or pre-paid electricity  
> schemes to the poor in the UK. Next door thousands of rural-migrant  
> workers uprooted by the agrarian crisis stitch and sew for export,  
> competing with their angry brothers and sisters in Bangladesh or  
> Vietnam. And the rat-race will not stop, at the outskirts of  
> Gurgaon Indias biggest Special Economic Zone is in the making. The  
> following newsletter documents some of the developments in and  
> around this miserable boom region. If you want to get to know more  
> about working and struggling in Gurgaon, if you want more info  
> about or even contribute to this project, please have a go at:
>
> www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com
> gurgaon_workers_news at yahoo.co.uk
>
> For this and following newsletters we want to introduce four  
> different categories of texts which should make it easier to trace  
> back certain developments.
>
> 1) Proletarian Experiences -
> Daily life stories and reports from a workers' perspective
> 2) Collective Action -
> Reports on proletarian struggles in the area
> 3) According to Plan -
> General information on the development of the region, certain  
> company policies
> 4) About the Project -
> Up-Dates on Gurgaon Workers News
>
> Most of the texts in this issue display the dark-side of the boom.  
> A deeper analysis of the more hopeful recent struggles of temp  
> workers at Hero Honda, Honda Manesar (HMSI), Delphi and the dynamic  
> work-force composition within the new industrial areas is still to  
> come.
>
> 1) Proletarian Experiences
>
> Death and Development -
> Short news on industrial accidents, road deaths, bomb alarms,  
> serial killings and other achievements of development in Gurgaon  
> and on its highways.
>
> Factory and Police Station -
> Recent story by metal worker from Faridabad, told to FMS.
>
> Exploitation and the Law -
> Short glimpses of current conditions in various Faridabad  
> factories, in the shadow of the official labour law (March 2007  
> issue of FMS)
>
> Glossary  -
> Glossary on welfare policies, wages and prices.
>
> 2) Collective Action
>
> Pressline Worker -
> Example of small but sucessful industrial action, trying to avoid  
> the lock-out trap.
>
> Bicycle-Rikshaws and Strike at Liberty Shoe factory -
> Short chat with former Liberty Shoe worker and short news on last  
> industrial dispute at Liberty Shoe factory, Haryana.
>
> Commuter Riot -
> Fear on the highways, stress on the railways. Proletarian commuters  
> causing a riot at Faridabad Old Station. From October 2006 issue of  
> Faridabad Majdoor Samaachar (FMS).
>
> Techy Wage Increase -
> Unsuccessful attempt of wage increase by Gurgaon Call Centre Workers
>
> 3) According to Plan
>
> Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part One -
> Economy times two in Gurgaon, short summary of recent newspaper  
> articles on the planned SEZ.
>
> Corporate Watch -
> Recent news on multi-national companies in Gurgaon.
>
> 4) About the Project
>
> Short Presentation of Gurgaon Workers News
>
> 1) Proletarian Experiences
>
> Death and Development
>
> Capitalist development kills in many ways. On 14th of March 2007  
> several peasants in Nandigram, West Bengal are shot dead protesting  
> against being displaced for a SEZ. In Singur people get killed  
> because they resist the construction of a Tata car factory. Once  
> the car factory is running, the production creates more victims.  
> Suzuki Maruti in Gurgaon has outsourced most of the dangerous sheet- 
> metal work to work-shops and slum production-units in Faridabad.  
> The blood now flows outside the companies premises, union sources  
> estimate that daily over a dozen fingers are mutilated in the work- 
> shops. On 14th of March 2007, while peasants are shot at in  
> Nandigram, three workers in Gurgaon die and six get injured at  
> Evergreen Plywood Limited factory when a boiler explodes. Technical  
> failure. The enforcement of (automobile) industries, the production  
> and the product are fatal. On 12th of March 2007 a young man dies  
> on the new Gurgaon-Delhi highway. He is the twelfth, other sources  
> say the seventeenth person who got killed on this short 15 to 20 km  
> stretch of the NH8 during the last 50 days. In the period between  
> 2003 and 2006 over 1,500 people got injured on highway. The highway  
> and the double lane street beneath it cuts old and new Gurgaon in  
> half and there is hardly safe way to get from one side to the  
> other. Foot-crossings are not part of the supply-chain. Main reason  
> for the construction of the highway: supply of the Gurgaon call  
> centres with thousands of workers from Delhi, just-in-time supply  
> of Maruti, Hero Honda and HMSI with parts, easy travelling for the  
> upper management and high-speed drive-way to Gurgaon's shopping- 
> malls. Wealth on display attracts people wanting to shine in its  
> halo and people wanting to shine in its purgatory. The shopping- 
> malls on the road between Delhi and Gurgaon are packed with tens of  
> thousands of consumers every day and monthly tens of thousands run  
> onto the street in panic, scared by bomb alarms, the last time on  
> 16th of March 2007. Development is brutal and causes brutalisation.  
> In February 2007 the chapter of a serial killing is legally closed.  
> During the time between January and April 2006 a group of taxi  
> drivers killed 20 people travelling between Delhi and Gurgaon, most  
> of them local workers. They robbed a total of 60,000 Rs, this is  
> 3,000 Rs for a life.
>
> The following  reports are translated from Hindi, published in  
> Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar (FMS). FMS is a monthly independent  
> workers newspaper, about 5,000 copies are distributed in Faridabad  
> and beyond. The newspaper exists since the early 1980s, it is free.  
> Workers are encouraged to contribute with their thoughts and  
> experiences. If you want to get in touch:
> Majdoor Library
> Autopin Jhuggi, NIT
> Faridabad - 121001
>
> Factory and Police Station
> (FMS no.225, March 2007)
> MG Export Worker
> The factory located on plot 108, sector 24 produces steel and  
> aluminium kitchen utensils and decorative pieces for export. The  
> factory employs 67 people who receive ESI and PF (see Glossary),  
> out of which 20 are staff (see Glossary), the rest permanent  
> (manual) workers. Additionally 235 casual workers (see Glossary)  
> work inside the plant, currently their number is low compared to  
> other times. Even after two or two and a half years of constant  
> employment for the company they remain casual workers, they do not  
> have ESI and PF. MG Export runs two 12-hours shift, but after one  
> day of 12-hour shift the next day you have to work during day and  
> night. The shift would start at 8 am in the morning and end at 4:30  
> pm the next day. This is a 36 and a half hours shift. When it comes  
> to working-times the company makes no difference between permanent  
> and casual workers. You might be a permanent or a casual, the  
> payment for overtime is only at the normal rate (although legally  
> it should be paid double).
> On Sundays the factory is made to seem closed, but actually  
> production is on from 7 am to 3:30 pm. On Sundays workers have to  
> keep their bicycles inside the plant. In sector 24 there are three  
> other factories which appear to be closed at night, but MG Export  
> uses them for night-shift. Workers are sent to night-shift from  
> factory on plot 108 to plot 305, plot 329... In order to hide  
> production there are all kind of legal and illegal papers. Finished  
> products ready for export were first sent to Faridabad sector 59,  
> now they are sent to Daadri in Uttar Pradesh.
> MG Export pays the helpers 1,900 Rs per month, the operators get  
> 2,300 Rs (see Glossary). On pay day workers and white-collar  
> workers have to sign unofficial documents. Two or three days after  
> having received the wage people have to sign the official register  
> which says that the wage is according to the minimum wage defined  
> by the Haryana government, which would be 2,485 Rs or more,  
> according to wage category. The overtime is not even documented on  
> the unofficial papers.
> On the 15th of Febuary 2007 the chairman and managing director of  
> MG Export were on rounds in the factory from 1 pm to 4 pm. During  
> this time the sahib started to kick a power press worker for a  
> minor fault. In front of all workers the sahib slapped-beat-kicked.  
> The people who started working at 8 am on the 15th of February were  
> supposed to work till 4:30 pm on the 16th. The press operators left  
> the factory on the 15th of February at 8 pm. There are twelve power  
> press machines in the factory and they all stood still from 8 pm to  
> 9:30 pm. The management called workers from the second shift at  
> their homes, but in the night of the 15th only three power press  
> were running.
> On the 16th of February the power press operators gathered on a  
> nearby square instead of coming to the factory. The head foreman  
> went there and at 9:30 am the workers were brought back in the  
> factory. The press operators started to work. Three hours later the  
> company called the police inside the plant. Two police men took  
> four workers from the press shop to Mujesar police station. Two  
> workers were sent back to the factory and the other two were told  
> to be charged with theft... Those two police men who had come to  
> the factory had taken twelve metal bowls to the station themselves.  
> One of the workers who was held in the station was the worker who  
> had been beaten by the sahib, the other one was his friend. The  
> police threatened and scared these workers untill in the evening  
> they made them sign their resignation from the company and the  
> police asked the company to settle the accounts of the workers.  
> From the final payment the police men took 500 Rs each from the  
> workers.
>
> The laws are for exploitation and there is freedom to exploit  
> beyond the law
> (FMS no. 225, March 2007)
> The law: wages for a month of work have to be paid by the 7th to  
> 10th of the subsequent month; the daily working-time is eight  
> hours, the maximum overtime allowed is 50 hours in three month;  
> overtime has to be paid by double rate; the minimum monthly wage  
> defined by the government of Haryana for an unskilled helper-worker  
> is: 2, 484.28 Rs; this is based on an eight hours day and four days  
> off per month; the extra dearness allowance DA (see Glossary) for  
> January 2007 has not been announced yet, this is at the beginning  
> of March 2007; the labour department declares that they have not  
> received any information yet about the speech of the Chief Minister  
> announcing the introduction of a minimum wage of 3,510 Rs.
> - Essar Steel Worker:
> The factory on plot 10 is located in the Industrial Area, it runs  
> two shifts of 12 hours each. The overtime is paid at single rate.  
> The helpers get 1,950 Rs and the operators between 3,500 and 4,000  
> Rs. The employer does not give ESI and PF. - CMI Worker: The  
> factory on plot 71 is in sector 6. Now, on 17th of Febuary workers  
> might receive the wages for last December. The production is  
> booming, the permanent workers are forced to work 16 hours. The  
> workers hired through contractors are driven to work 36 to 40 hours  
> at a stretch and often fall ill because of that. The overtime  
> payment is at single rate. - Mahawir Die Casters Worker:
> The factory on plot no.153, located in sector 24 runs two 12 hours  
> shifts, 30 days per month. Overtime is paid at single rate. The  
> helpers hired through conractors get 2,000 Rs per month. - Galaxsy  
> Instruments Worker:
> On plot no.2, sector 27 C, the helpers hired through contractors  
> get 2,100 Rs per month. The shift starts at 8 am and finishs at  
> 5:30 pm. Even the permane nt workers do not receive overtime  
> payment for the nine and a half hours shift. - Inotech Engineering  
> Worker:
> 12/6 Mathura Road, Gurukul. The wage of the casual workers is 2,400  
> Rs, there is neither ESI and PF. The shift starts at 8 am and  
> finishs at 10:30 pm. Overtime is paid at single rate. - Dalaal Auto  
> worker:
> Plot no.262, sector 25. The factory runs two 12 hours shift, the  
> overtime is paid at single rate. - JBM Worker:
> Plot no.133, sector 24. Less than 10 per cent of the work-force are  
> permanent workers, more than 90 per cent are hired through three  
> different contractors. The 50 to 60 permanent workers work two  
> shifts of 8:30 hours each. In the filing, welding, cleaning,  
> packing department 200 workers work on one shift, from 7:30 am to 9  
> pm, sometimes till 10 pm or even 1 am. In the press shop 300 people  
> work and in the axle department 150 workers, on two shifts. From  
> 7:30 am to 7 pm or 8 pm to 6 am. There is work on Sundays, too.  
> Overtime is paid at single rate. JBM supplies Eicher, Maruti, Hero  
> Honda. - Sangita Industries Worker:
> Plot no.55, Industrial Area. The helpers in the factory get 2,150  
> Rs, but no ESI or PF. Daily working time is 12 hours. Overtime is  
> paid at single rate. Four to five days wages get siphoned off  
> before wages are paid. If you ask them about it they say that the  
> wage office is in the companies factory in sector 24, "so what  
> could we do about it". Threatening takes place, but whoever keeps  
> on asking again and again will finally receive their money. - Venus  
> Metal Industries Worker:
> Plot 262, sector 24. Out of the 600 workers employed in the factory  
> ten per cent are permanent, ten per cent are casual and eighty per  
> cent are hired through contractors. In the press shop, the paint  
> shop and the tool room they run two shifts. There is only little  
> overtime. In the welding, assembly and packing department there is  
> only one shift, from 8:30 in the morning to 9 in the night. During  
> the twelve and a half hours shift they would not even give you a  
> cup of tea. Overtime is paid at single rate. There is hardly any  
> space in the factory. In the paint shop there is no exhaust fan and  
> there is no space for putting up a fan. The heat of the paint shop  
> enters the press shop, as well. This condition gets worse during  
> summer. There is no canteen and there is no space to make meals.  
> Venus Metal supplies Maruti, Hero Honda and others. - Shivalik  
> Global Worker:
> 12/6 Mathura Road. The workers directly employed by the company  
> received their January wage on 21st and 22nd of February. The  
> workers hired through contractors have not received their January  
> wage, and today is the 24th of February. - High Tech Worker:
> 20/6 Mathura Road. Out of the 40 workers directly employed by the  
> company about four or five have ESI and PF. The workers hired  
> through six different contractors have no ESI and PF. Whenever an  
> official comes for inspection to the plant they are pushed outside  
> the factory. The helpers get 2,000 Rs per month. Working-time is 12  
> hours and overtime is paid at single rate. Per month 100 Rs out of  
> 500 Rs wage is siphoned off. When you leave the job they rarely pay  
> your outstanding wages. The contractors push and threaten and tend  
> to delay the wage payment. The January wage has not been given yet,  
> on 19th of February. - Escorts Worker:
> The permanent workers have received the annual statutory bonus  
> (minimum one month wage) in October on Divali, but after half of  
> February has already passed, the casual workers did not receive it.  
> For any little fault casual workers are kicked out the factory. And  
> in order to get hired the casual workers have to give the company  
> officers a bribe of 500 Rs. - Vaibav Engineering Worker:
> Plot no.63, sector 24. There are eight permanents and 120 casual  
> workers in the plant. The wage of the casual helpers is 1,650 Rs,  
> ESI or PF is not covered. There are two shifts, each twelve hours.  
> Overtime is paid at single rate. - SPL Worker:
> Plot no.47-48, sector 6. The workers employed through contractors  
> get 90 to 115 Rs per twelve hours shift.  The wages of January have  
> not been paid yet, on 22nd of February. - Clutch Auto Worker:
> 12/4 Mathura Road. The 500 casual workers have not received their  
> January wages, on 20th of February 2007. - Orient Fan Worker:
> Plot no.59, sector 6. On 14th of February in the tool room and  
> press shop factory of the company a manager and supervisor together  
> beat up two casual workers. - Unique Engineering Worker:
> 20/3 Mathura Road, Northern Complex, plot no. 5/6. The workers have  
> neither ESI nor PF.
>
> Glossary
>
> Wages and Prices
> Exchange Rate
> Minimum Wage
> ESI
> PF
> DA
> VRS
> Staff
> Contract Workers
> Casual Workers
> Workers hired through contractors
>
> Wages and Prices:
> When we hear that a cleaner in a call centre in Gurgaon, an  
> industrial worker in Faridabad or a Riksha-Driver in Delhi earns  
> 2,000 Rs for a 70 hours week, which is about the average normal  
> workers wage, we have to bear in mind that they often came from  
> West Bengal, Bihar or other remote place in order to get this job.  
> In order to put 2,000 Rs into a daily context here are some prices  
> of (daily) goods and services.
> - Monthly rent for a small room in Gurgaon (without kitchen),  
> toilet and bathroom shared by five families: 1,300 Rs
> - Monthly rent for a small room in new building in central Gurgaon,  
> single toilet and bathroom: 4,500 Rs
> - Half a kilo red lentils on the local market: 25 Rs
> - Kilo rice on local market: 14 Rs
> - Bus ticket to nearest bigger bus stop in South Delhi: 14 Rs
> - One hour internet in a cafe: 20 Rs
> - Starbucks Coffee in Shopping Mall: 30 Rs
> - Faulty shirt on Faridabad local market: 40 Rs
> - Single gas cooker plus new 2 litre gas cylinder: 720 Rs
> - Second-hand bicycle: 600 to 1,000 Rs
> - Two simple steel pots: 250 Rs
> - One litre Diesel: 30 Rs
> - Start package pre-paid mobile phone (without the phone) 300 Rs
> - Phone call to other mobile phones: 1 Rs
> - One month mobile phone flate rate: 1,500 Rs
> - Compaq LapTop: 50,000 Rs
> - Flight Delhi to London: 28,000 Rs
> - Ford Fiesta: 587,000 Rs
> - Two-Bedroom Appartment in Gurgaon: 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 Rs
> - The minimum dowry poor worker have to pay for the marriage of  
> their daughter: 30,000 Rs
>
> Exchange Rate:
> 1 US-Dollar = 43 Rs (March 2007)
> 1 Euro = 57 Rs (March 2007)
>
> Minimum Wage:
> Offficial minimum wage in Haryana in March 2007 is about 2,500 Rs  
> per month for an unskilled worker, based on a 8 hours day and 4  
> days off per month.
>
> ESI (Employee's State Insurance):
> Introduced in 1948, meant to secure employee in case of illness,  
> long-term sickness, industrial accidents and to provide medical  
> facilities (ESI Hospitals) to insured people. Officially the law is  
> applicable to Factories employing 10 or more people. Employers  
> would have to contribute with 4.75 percent of the wage paid to the  
> worker, the employee 1.75 percent of their wage. Officially casual  
> workers or workers hired through contractors who work in the  
> factory (even if it is for construction, maintenance or cleaning  
> work on the premises) are entitled to ESI, as well. Self-employment  
> is often used to undermine ESI payment.
>
> PF (Employee's Provident Fund):
> Introduced in 1952, meant to provide a pension to workers.  
> Officially applicable to all companies employing more than 20  
> people. Official retirement age is 58 years. Given that most of the  
> casual workers belong to the regular work-force of a factory, they  
> are entitled to the Provident Fund, as well. So are workers  
> employed by contractors. If workers receive neither PF nor ESI they  
> also do not show up in the official documents, meaning that  
> officially they do not exist.
>
> DA (Dearness Allowance):
> An inflation compensation. Each three to six months the state  
> government checks the general price development and accordingly  
> pays an allowance on top of wages.
> VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme):
> Often rather unvoluntary scheme to ged rid off permanent workers.  
> Particularly the VRS at Maruti in Gurgaon made this clear, when 35  
> years old were sent in early retirement.   Staff
> In India staff includes managers, supervisors, security personnell  
> and white-collar workers.
>
> Contract Workers
> Workers hired for a specific performance, paid for the performance.
>
> Casual Workers
> Workers hired by the company for a limited period of time.
>
> Workers hired through contractors
> Similar to temporary workers, meaning that they work (often for  
> long periods) in one company, but are officially employed by a  
> contractor from whom they also receive their wages. Are supposed to  
> be made permanent after 240 days of continous employment in the  
> company, according to the law. A lot of companies only have a  
> licence for employing workers in auxilliary departments, such as  
> canteen or cleaning. Companies usually find ways to get around  
> these legal restrictions, e.g. workers services are terminated on  
> the 239th day to avoid workers reaching eligibility criteria to  
> become permanent.
>
> DC
> Deputy Commissioner, Head of the District Administration
>
> SP
> Superintendent of Police, Head of the District Police
>
> 2) Collective Action
>
> Pressline Worker
>
> Given that a lot of industrial actions in the Faridabad and Gurgaon  
> area end up in a lock-out and are often used by the employer to  
> replace permanent and/or contract workers, the following short  
> example shows that workers have to develop different kinds of  
> collective actions. Particularly after the lock-out and repression  
> at Honda Manesar (HMSI) in July 2005 a lot of workers, mainly those  
> on contract basis, have learnt their lessons. Most of the struggles  
> after the  HMSI lock-out were short factory occupations (Hero Honda  
> and Shivam Autotech in May 2006, Honda Manesar HMSI in December 2006).
>
> (FMS no. 216, June 2006)
> Plot no. 262 -D, sector 24. In order to get better wages and  
> working clothes and so on, us 30 permanent workers neither took a  
> banner into our hands nor got engaged neither in a tool down strike  
> nor in a walk out strike. We undertook other steps in order to  
> effect production. The production level came down to 25 to 30 per  
> cent. As a reaction the company locked us out on 16th of January  
> 2006. On our own complaint to the labour department the company  
> made the excuse that construction work was going on inside the  
> premises and that for the workers attendance will be marked. After  
> fifteen days a three-year contract is agreed on: 500 Rs annual wage  
> increase, shoes, working clothes, soap is provided by the company,  
> annualy three days tour, and for all who worked for the company for  
> five - ten years a service award of 1,500 - 3,000 Rs. The full wage  
> for the fifteen days that we were kept outside the factory was  
> given. But still the company pays the ten casual workers only 1,800  
> to 2,000 Rs and they do not have ESI and PF.
>
> Liberty Shoes, Strike and Cycle Rikshas
>
> Silaam is from West Bengal, he came to Gurgaon about two years ago,  
> in spring 2005. He first worked at Liberty Shoes in Haryana, he did  
> a lot of overtime, earned about 3,000 Rs per month. He says that he  
> did not like the work, the control. About a half year ago he bought  
> a cycle riksha. He now has regular customers, for example two women  
> from Maruti Vihar who work in Call Centres. He cycles them every  
> day. His monthly income is 5,000 Rs now, although it is unclear  
> whether he has to pay back a loan for the riksha. If you want to  
> lease a riksha, and this is what most of the riksha-valla do, you  
> have to pay the owner 25 Rs per day. This is the big deal for all  
> those who think that you can save the world by handing out micro- 
> credits: give people a 20,000 Rs credit and they can be their own  
> employer. The riksha then becomes the mill-stone around their self- 
> empowered necks, while waiting with dozens of other small  
> entrepreneurs at street corners, fighting over passengers to  
> transport, not being able to go back to their village, because  
> invested capital has to be moved. The alternative? Staying at  
> Liberty Shoes stitching for nothing? The following news item on the  
> last strike at Liberty Shoes show that conditions there are bad,  
> but that at least there is a possibility of collective response.
> 26th of June 2006
> Over 30 people, including policemen, were injured after the Haryana  
> Police resorted to lathicharge on hundreds of protesting workers of  
> Liberty Footwear who had blocked National Highway No 1 near  
> Gharaunda on Monday afternoon. Police officials said that they had  
> to resort to lathicharge after the workers pelted stones at them  
> and refused to lift the blockade. About six policemen sustained  
> injuries in the stone pelting, they said. Many of the workers,  
> including women, were detained to clear the highway that had  
> remained blocked for over three hours, leading to nearly 10- 
> kilometre-long queues of stranded vehicles on either side of the  
> industrial town of Gharaunda.
> 28th of June 2006
> Nearly 3,500 of Liberty Shoes' 4,000 employees went on a strike on  
> Tuesday after about 50 of them were injured on Monday in a police  
> lathi charge near the company's Karnal plant in Haryana while  
> protesting against low wages. Low salaries and lack of bonus have  
> been the bone of contention between the two sides for the last nine- 
> ten months. According to Dilawar Singh, union leader, Liberty  
> Workers Union, "The company has not paid any bonus in the last one  
> and a half years after reducing it from 20% to 10%. There hasn't  
> been any major hike in salary as well for many years. The  
> management raised the salary from Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,300 over a  
> period of 10 years. The management also misbehaves with the  
> employees quite often."
> The company has about 4,000 employees working in its three units  
> based at Kutail, Gharonda and Karnal. Employees of the two units at  
> Kutail and Gharonda boycotted work on Tuesday and only 15-20  
> employees turned out in Karnal plant which has about 500 employees.
> Liberty, though, seems confident of meeting its production targets  
> despite the strike. "The employees at these three units had been  
> producing very less since the last 6 months and keeping in mind  
> their lackadaisical attitude we have increased our production in  
> Uttaranchal unit by 30-40% by adding two more lines to it. We have  
> about 170 employees there but the target is easily achieved due to  
> major outsourcing of component part. There will be shortage of the  
> products but we are hopeful to cover the losses soon," said Bansal.  
> The company also plans to set up 3 new units in Uttaranchal and Ponta.
> The company workers say they will return to work only if their  
> colleagues are released from jail and all false cases imposed on  
> them are withdrawn. The Liberty Shoes workers have been in protest  
> mode for the last three days ever since eight of their leaders were  
> arrested by the police after a clash with two senior officials of  
> the company who were reportedly seriously hurt.
>
> Riot at Old Station, Faridabad
> (FMS no.220, October 2006)
>
> A daily commuter: The 7:55 am Mathura Shuttle towards Delhi, the  
> 8:15 am Ballabhgarh train and the 8:35 am Palwal Shuttle haven't  
> reached New Town Station yet, and it is already 8:35 am. The  
> platform is packed with commuters. The Ballbhagarh train arrives  
> New Station at 8:40 am, there is a fair bit of pushing and punching  
> and quite a lot of people miss the train. The train has half   
> reached platform number one of Old Station when people stop the  
> train and force the driver to get off. After the front wind screen  
> and the headlight are smashed people start breaking the windows of  
> the waggons, the passengers get off the train and join in pelting  
> stones. At Old Station about 20,000 daily commuters are crammed  
> together. The front screen window of a freight train engine which  
> stands in the station gets broken, too. The Capital Express (posh  
> train conecting state and national capital) from Mumbai towards  
> Delhi stops at the outer signal. A crowd smashing the signals  
> arrive at the Capital Express and start to break the windows. A  
> Minister of Home of the central government is on the Capital  
> Express, as well. The police is there, but what can ten to twenty  
> police men do once there is such a crowd? If they would use their  
> clubs, they would get beaten up themselves. The DC (see Glossary)  
> and SP (dito) from Faridabad and the Railway SP and a heavy police  
> force arrives and the situation turns back to normal.
> Between 6:30 am and 9:30 am there are nine local trains which carry  
> 100,000 daily commuters from as far as Agra to the factories,  
> offices, shops and other work places in Faridabad and Delhi. More  
> and more people get stuffed into the local trains. The situation is  
> so bad that there is not even space left to stand.There are between  
> 500 to 700 people in one waggon! People who hang outside the train  
> often get hit by signals. Often people get seriously injured while  
> trying to get on or off the train. And an eight hours working day  
> easily turns into a twelve to fourteen hours day. The Railway  
> department often stop local trains while giving green lights to  
> freight trains and express trains. In consequence a half an hour  
> local train journey can extend to one or even one and a half hours.  
> Reprimands for coming late you can get everywhere, factories often  
> refuse people who arrive late access and send them back. Only  
> yesterday night the local train which was to reach Okhla at 8:10 pm  
> had been cancelled. After a long time in limbo the Malwa Express to  
> Jammu was turned into a local train. In order to clear the way for  
> the Capital Express the local train stopped for ten minutes in  
> Tugalkabad and then 20 mintes at Old Station in order to clear the  
> way for the Southern Express. The local train would have arrived  
> New Station an 8:45 pm, the Malwa arrived finally at 10 pm. Under  
> these conditions commuters will always be in a state of tension.
>
> Techy Wage increase attempt at Convergys in Gurgaon
>
> Already older news item (August 2005) from major call centre  
> service provider Covergys in Gurgaon.
> "Not satisfied with their earnings, some BPO employees feel they  
> can outsmart technology and earn bonuses for themselves. Some  
> employees at Convergys were sacked because they managed to 'create'  
> fake favourable ratings apparently from customers of SBC Yahoo, a  
> popular ISP in the USA who have outsourced customer services to  
> Convergys. The employees created new email IDs in the name of SBC  
> Yahoo customers they were handling, sent a positive feedback to  
> their company from this email ID and also updated this email ID  
> temporarily on the customer's database in their system.
> Apparently this was discovered when Convergys noted unusual  
> patterns of excellent ratings for some employees. On pinging, it  
> was found that these feedback forms had been originating from an  
> Indian server (used by Convergys, Gurgaon) rather than from the US  
> servers from where they actually should have come. Customers were  
> also asked to verify if they had actually given such feedback.  
> Possibility is not ruled out that these executives even asked for  
> passwords from customers under the pretext of solving their  
> problems. But Raman Roy, the former CEO of Wipro's BPO operations,  
> says almost no one can access passwords unless customers themselves  
> disclose the same. "But it's possible if one has a strong  
> understanding of technology. If these kids could manage that, then  
> they are wasting their talents in a BPO," he adds. But money seems  
> to have been the greatest lure for such employees, as an excellent  
> rating can get them bonuses of up to Rs 4,000 a week".
> You can read more about Convergys and the Gurgaon call centre world  
> in newsletter no.1.
>
> 3) According to Plan
>
> Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part One
>
> The following is a summary of recent newspaper articles concerning  
> the planning of a SEZ in Gurgaon area. This can only be a first  
> step towards a more general understanding of the capital and class  
> composition in the area and the general process of urbanisation.  
> The main questions concerning the bigger picture are:
> - What kind of industries are concentrated in Gurgaon, how are they  
> intertwined locally and beyond?
> - What is the role of the state and private development companies  
> in the expansion process?
> - In which way is the village economy and agricultural surrounding  
> important for the expansion and for the local labour market?
> - What are the general movements on the labour market? We have to  
> avoid to get hooked on the different legal forms of exploitation,  
> e.g. by demonizing Special Economic Zones or the impact of foreign  
> direct investment and creating illusions about the workers'  
> friendlyness of the public sector or of 'homegrown capital'.  
> Nevertheless it makes a difference for the conditions or workers'  
> struggles whether they are exploited in a (public sector) school or  
> an (export) textile mill. Recent uprisings in Vietnam, the Southern  
> China and Bangladesh have shown that particularly in the export  
> zones a young and uninstitutionalized workers' movement appears on  
> the stage. This is not because there the working conditions are  
> particularly bad or exploitation relatively worse, often the  
> opposite is true when we compare it to the conditions in older or  
> small scale industries in the respective countries. The erruptions  
> are more due to the fact that these workers know about their  
> potential power: they see their generation united by similar  
> experiences (migration), they know about the importance of their  
> work (export), there is no incorporated (union) institution which  
> would have an interest to sell them out and they know that due to  
> the generalisation of conditions their struggle will very likely  
> spark off chain reactions of discontent. In Gurgaon area we have  
> some similar features: spacial concentration of industries,  
> importance of export and multi-national companies ( e.g. 75 per  
> cent of all Japanese FDI in India flow to the area), a young  
> migrant work-force, most of them on contracts, meaning that they  
> have worked in various factories in the area. The SEZ might  
> intensify this concentration process. Right after taking over the  
> Congress-led Haryana government decided in June 2005 to set up the  
> SEZ in a private-public cooperation. The main developer is the  
> private company Reliance Industries Ltd., the company also holds 90  
> percent of the shares of the project. Reliance Ltd. started as a  
> company in the chemical sector and became huge by attracting small  
> share-holders and riding the late 80s stock-market boom. Nowadays  
> Reliance is in chemicals, communications, energy sector, real  
> estate and others. In cooperation with the Haryana State Industrial  
> and Infrastructure Development Corporation they plan to set up a  
> 25,000 acre SEZ, which would be the largest SEZ in India. It is  
> supposed to provide a cargo airport and a 2,000-megawatt power  
> plant.   Officially the numbers of created future jobs in the SEZ  
> vary quite a bit: the Haryana political leaders speak about the  
> creation of 500,000 jobs, Reliances Industries Ltd. about 200,000.  
> The actual industrial composition is still unclear. Just from  
> scanning recent news items it seems that apart from IT, textile and  
> automobile industries the trend goes towards bio-tech and  
> pharmaceutical industries and companies manufacturing for the  
> "green energy sector" (wind turbines, solar-energy, bio-fuels).  
> Confusingly enough there are two more SEZ announced in the Gurgaon  
> area, one by Rockman Projects, a multi-service SEZ, and one by  
> Orient Craft, a textile hub. Rockman Projects anounces that as of  
> December 2006, the land has been fully acquired in Gurgaon. The SEZ  
> will be spread over 1,615 hectares and will also be located on  
> National Highway 8. Orient Craft announced to set up a 750-acre  
> SEZ, which is supposed to employ 30,000 people once finished. In  
> the official Masterplan 2021 a total of 4,570 hectar is allocated  
> to Special Economic Zones.
> Clear is the trend to develop industrial land in Manesar, a small  
> town in the south of Gurgaon, about 20 to 30 km down the highway.  
> Official term for the outcome is Industrial Model Town-Ship (IMT).  
> The Haryana government already announced a bulk of tax exemptions  
> for companies which would settle in the IMT. After Honda HMSI  
> opened their plant on the green field, also Maruti Suzuki set-up  
> the new plant there, with various bigger suppliers in tow.  
> According to the governmental Gurgaon-Manesar Masterplan 2021 about  
> 700 hectars of land was converted into industrial area. About the  
> development of the SEZ first critical voices appear, e.g. of the  
> Sampuran Kranti Manch, stating that Reliance Ltd. is more  
> interested in the land acquisition for planning golf courses and  
> Disney theme parks than in creating jobs. Compared to the situation  
> in Singur or Nandigram the farmers seem to be less resistant to the  
> selling of their land, which might be due to the fact that Haryana  
> was one of the states of Green Revolution, meaning that subsistence  
> or small scale farming has not a chance of survival anyway. Of  
> course the media portrays the farmers as the winner of the  
> situation, as people making loads of money by selling their  
> property. This ignores that according to the magazine Frontline  
> more than 50 percent of the people who live in the area are  
> landless, they will be displaced and loose their jobs in  
> agriculture (the official notification of the government states  
> that the developer would have to provide alternative housing and  
> jobs). The farmers say that the land is actually very fertile and  
> that it is a shame to cover the soil with marble, but that  
> nevertheless prices for agriculture products are down and cannot  
> compete with the prices for land offered by companies like  
> Reliances. That not everyone is happy to leave their land is  
> obvious. On 28th of March villagers from Gadauli Khurd  opposed the  
> occupation of land by Haryana authorities for a proposed SEZ to be  
> set up by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, chasing away police  
> and a squad that had gone to the area to demolish some houses and  
> tube-wells. The local people gathered to oppose the demolition work  
> and pelted stones at the team, which comprised a HSIIDC official.  
> The window of a bulldozer was damaged and the team had to retreat  
> due to the opposition by the villagers. Physical possession of the  
> land will be taken soon with the help of police force and it would  
> be handed over to RIL, said Gurgaon's deputy commissioner Mr Rakesh  
> Gupta. The villagers said they were opposing the demolition as the  
> land was originally acquired by HSIIDC for the development of an  
> SEZ by the corporation but was now being handed over to a private  
> party. Sources said the current dispute related to about 300 acres  
> of the total of 1,380 acres to be given by the Haryana government  
> to RIL for its SEZ. So the overall effect on the rural population  
> has still to be seen. Other voices criticise that the state would  
> pamper private companies with tax exemptions and other incentives,  
> while the state explaines, that the income from interests and  
> general prosperity will more than counter-balance the low taxation.  
> Fact is that compared to expected profits and attracted capital,  
> state and companies managed quite cheaply to turn a large amount of  
> farm land into an industrial area. We still have to see what is  
> actually behind the SEZ boom. There are already various "parks" in  
> Gurgaon, IT-City, textile and cyber parks, automobile hubs. If you  
> have always wondered what a Cyber City is, here the explanation  
> from the Haryana Government Masterplan 2021: "Cyber City means self  
> contained intelligent city with (...) high speed communication  
> access to be developed for nucleating the Information technology  
> concept and germination of medium and large software companies".  
> Some hot air with your bits and bytes, sir...? In the notification  
> from May 2006 the Haryana government declared that it granted  
> approval for 23 SEZ to be developed in the state. If the actual  
> legal terms of SEZ will actually apply in all of the announced  
> projects, is still unclear. Already existing are the impacts on the  
> real estate and land prices in the area, another topic yet to cover.
>
> Corporate Watch
> On the web-site you can find some news items on following multi- 
> national companies in Gurgaon area, just click on "List of  
> Companies". The list is boring in a general sense and it smells  
> like share-holders oi-stress sweat, but it might possibly be useful  
> once shit hits the fan or a picket the factory gate. For a longer  
> list of companies situated in Gurgaon have a look at the web-site,  
> as well.
>
> News items this month on:
>
> Alcatel Lucent
> Amdocs
> Amtek
> Apollo Tyres
> Caparo
> Carrier
> Dell
> Donaldson
> DRS
> HSS, Flextronics
> Genpact
> INC
> Maruti/Suzuki
> Metro Tyres
> Mitsubishi
> Nippon Paint
> Orient Craft
> Posco
> Samsonite
> Samsung
> Sintel
> Su-Kam
> UnitedLex
> Zentek
>
> 4) About the Project
>
> About Gurgaon Workers News
>
> Gurgaon Workers' News is a project independent from political  
> parties or unions, trying to support workers' self-organisation in  
> their struggle for a better life. One of the projects' aim is to  
> document the development and workers' struggles in and around  
> Gurgaon, one of the current boom regions of global capital. For  
> this reason we publish a monthly electronic newsletter on this site.
>
> GWS is not meant to be a purely documenting project, it is not  
> supposed to be a one way street. We plan to distribute a regular  
> newsletter/leaflet amongst workers in the area which, apart from  
> local news, would contain workers' information of related  
> industries, companies or boom regions from other places in the  
> world. If you want to have your information distributed to workers  
> of a specific company, see list of companies on this site, or if  
> you would offer to do the same at your place, please get in touch.
>
>
>
>
> News from the Special Exploitation Zone -
> www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com
>
> All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its  
> simplicity and ease of use." - PC Magazine