[Reader-list] Gurgaon Workers News - Newsletter 17 (May 2009)

[Jeebesh]

Gurgaon Workers News - Newsletter 17 (May 2009)
full version: www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com
email: gurgaon_workers_news at yahoo.co.uk

In the May 2009 issue you can find:

1) Proletarian Experiences -
Daily life stories and reports from a workers' perspective

*** Auto-biographic story of a 49 years old driver about his  
experience as a working-class Sikh in Delhi since the 1970s, his  
experiences as a proletarian militant in a religious organisation, the  
shock of the anti-Sikh riots, his disillusionments and revelations...
The story was told to FMS and published in issue 247, January 2009. In  
FMS longer stories about the (daily) life of workers are published  
under the heading "Aap-Ham kya-kya karte hain", asking "So what are  
you-we doing". The series emphasises the need to talk about ourselves  
regaining a sense of importance of our experiences and make them  
heard  - against the big noise of the public life of stars, leaders,  
cooperate identities...

*** Math and Wrath of Misery - The workers' reports tell us about  
average daily wages for workers in modern industries of about 100 Rs.  
This short note puts this wage in a context of daily expenditures.  
Followed by a short impression of distributing the Faridabad Majdoor  
Samaachaar in Gurgaon, Udyog Vihar.

*** Long list of short workers' reports about wage and working  
conditions in Gurgaon factories. The reports are gathered/spread  
during the monthly distribution of 'Faridabad Majdoor  
Samaachaar' (Faridabad Workers' News). The reports were gathered/ 
spread between November 2008 and March 2009. We can see an impact of  
the economic slump, particularly in the automotive manufacturing  
sector, where shift hours have been reduced.

Alankar Creation
Anand Nishikawa (Maruti Suzuki supplier)
Bharat Export
Bharat International
Campari Export
Chintu Fashion
Condor
Dhir International (textiles for GAP)
Eastern Medikit
Evergreen International
Femme Highfashion Garments
Gaurav International (textiles for GAP)
GOM Export
Grafty Export
Gulati Export
Instyle
Krishna Label
Lara Exports
Logwell Forge (Maruti Suzuki supplier)
Mass Enterprise
Mag Filter (Maruti Suzuki supplier)
Mod Syrup Industries
Modelama (textiles for GAP)
Modern Lace House
MY Fashion
Omega Design
Orient Clothing
Pearl Global
Premium Moulding and Pressing
Richa and Company
Richa Global
Ridhima Export
Radnik Export
Rangi International
Rolex Auto
Sargam Export
S&R Export
Shahi Exports (Faridabad: GAP, Old Navy, Target, Spirit and Hugo Boss)
Spark
Viva Global
Winter Wear

*** Proletarian Poverty and Common Wealth Games - After a deadly work  
accident on the huge Common Wealth Games construction site in Delhi  
workers struck and destroyed company property. The accident was just  
the last straw - the general working-conditions are bad enough and the  
credit and profit squeezed construction companies (see short summary)  
have to pass the squeeze on to the workers. People's Union for  
Democratic Rights has just published a report on the conditions on the  
site:
http://www.pudr.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&Itemid=63&gid=179

*** Another fatal factory fire -
On 1st of May 2009 the Lakhani shoe factory in Faridabad Sector-24  
caught fire, six workers were killed, 30 more were injured severely.  
According to workers, a blast in the boiler next to the basement of  
the two-storey factory caused the fire. The police claim that the  
factory owner has disappeared.

2) Collective Action -
Reports on proletarian struggles in the area

*** Tecumseh Workers' Report about re-structuring process and workers'  
resistance at Tecumseh compressor manufacturing factory, formerly  
belonging to the multi-national Whirlpool.

3) According to Plan -
General information on the development of the region or on certain  
company policies

*** Real Estate of Crisis in Gurgaon -
Short summary about current real estate crisis in Gurgaon. The gold  
rush is over, the makers of neo-liberal bubble-town Gurgaon leave  
behind concrete-steel skeletons, tomb-stones of their unfinished  
business.

*** Security Fears -
Private-Public Re-armament in Gurgaon. One of the main real estate  
developers DLF now ventures into the boom sector of crisis, profiting  
from the post-Mumbai-attack upper-middle-class paranoia: in Gurgaon  
DLF sets up a training camp for it's Terra Force, a security company  
based on low-paid labour of a migrant-peasant work-force.

4) About the Project -
Updates on Gurgaon Workers News

*** Help from some friends -
People in delhi area who are up for helping with the newsletter, who  
have stories to share or who want to give a hand, heart and mind for  
distributing Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar in the area, please get in  
touch.

*** Glossary
Updated version of the Glossary: things that you always wanted to  
know, but could never be bothered to google. Now even in alphabetical  
order.


News from the Special Exploitation Zone -
www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com