[Reader-list] Gurgaon Workers News - Newsletter 2 (April 2007)

[jeebesh at sarai.net]

An excellent newsletter about working lives in the expanding 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
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

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