[Reader-list] Fwd: justice for maruti workers public meetin

[Asit Das]

Justice for Maruti Workers
“Never, in all these years of my life had it occurred to me that the courts
too care only about the rich. I am now beginning
to believe that God too is only a rich man’s God.” The wife of a terminated
Maruti worker
Dear Friend,
The saga of struggle in the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki that has
unfolded over the past two years has both wrenched
our hearts as well as filled it with hope. The courage and fortitude with
which the workers and their families have carried
on the struggle has been remarkable. At the same time, the unflinching
posture assumed by the state and our political
leaders in open and unqualified favour of the multinational auto
manufacturer has once again underlined the skewed
power relations in this country that prides itself on its vibrant
democracy. The right to association, to a life with dignity
and freedom of expression seems clearly dispensable against the weight of
corporate interests.
The incident of18th July that led to the death of a HR Manager snowballed
into international news. However, what was
not reported was the way the Haryana police literally hunted down workers
from their homes and even the streets.
After the first few days of frenzied arrests, the police started picking up
people to their own admission according to a list
supplied by the management. 546 permanent workers were terminated along
with 1,800 contract workers. The shop
floor was conveniently purged of all those who had been part of the
previous process of unionization or had ever dared
to question unfair labour practices. The force with which the company, the
government and unfortunately also the
media has been putting forth the fact of a manager’s death serves to hide
numerous other facts. Facts such as the prime
witnesses presented by the company naming the accused in alphabetical
order; such as the ever vigilant CCTV cameras
being inexplicably switched off; such as the absolutely instrumental role
played by the one manager who died in the
incident in the registration of the Workers Union; and the presence of 100
hired bouncers in the premises. Instead, a
sum of Rs 1.43 crore has been paid to the Public Prosecutor who in
contravention to his mandate of representing the
law of the land has turned a deaf ear to all these and other such
inconsistencies in the management’s account. The
workers have been demanding an independent enquiry into the incident
because of the explicit bias of the Special
Investigation Team of the Haryana Police, but to no avail. Evidently, all
the arguments and requests being made by the
workers have been conveniently set aside by branding their protests as that
of “Ultras”, where even asking for one’s
basic Constitutional rights appear as stretching the limits of democracy
and in that having the verdict as good as passed
against them even before the charges have been framed.
For the workers, 18th July has never been the defining moment of their
agony. The enormous workload, the absolute
denial of any paid leave and the deduction of almost 50% of the monthly
salary on account of just a few days of absence
are what constitute the major part of their narrative of the Maruti story.
The 2,600 employed on contractual basis would
add to this list the pittance they received as a salary, life under the
constant threat of losing their jobs, no transportation
facility and the added humiliation and harassment at the hands of the
contractors. It is no wonder then that the promise
of their own union, a collective which could voice these countless personal
agonies that none of them could individually
raise, has been so precious to the workers and even their families. More
precious than any “package” that was offered
to them to surrender this one right, more precious even than the job many
of them had worked so hard to get, in a
We invite you to be a part of a solidarity program along with Achin Vanaik;
Anand Swaroop Verma;
Arundhati Roy; Ashok Bhowmick; Bhasha Singh; Manglesh Dabral; Maya Rao;
Pankaj Bisht; Praful
Bidwai; Professor Jagmohan; Prashant Bhushan; Rahul Ram; Rajinder Sachar
and others to express
support and solidarity for the struggle of the workers of Maruti Suzuki.
Date: Saturday, July 13 Time: 3pm to 6pm Venue: The Indian Society
International Law
auditorium, Bhagwan Das Road, New Delhi.world where they knew that another
such job would not be easy to come by having once been thrown out of a
company
like Maruti.
The Chandigarh High Court verdict dismissing the bail application of nine
workers who have been in jail since July 2012
states, “The incident is a most unfortunate occurrence which has lowered
the reputation of India in the estimation of
the world. Foreign investors are not likely to invest their money in India
out of fear of labour unrest.” On one hand,
stand all the prospective foreign investors that India might have ever had,
on the other, the entire lives of 147 innocent
young men and their families. The fear of labour unrest among foreign
investors that the Honourable High Court is so
keen to allay is one deeply grounded in the knowledge of the brutally
oppressive and exploitative work conditions
prevalent across manufacturing units in the country.
Today in July, 2013, the entire past year weighs heavy on the hearts of the
countless members of the workers’ families
who have, every new day, been expecting relief. Not only has relief not
been forthcoming but every attempt that they
have made to appeal to the government has faced the threat of severe
repression, precipitating finally on the 19th of
May when Haryana Police contingents from six districts confronted and
brutally lathi-charged workers and family
members on their way to the state’s industrial minister to seek justice and
to protest the arrest of 100 workers the night
before from a peaceful demonstration in front of the District
Commissioner’s office. Moreover, the workers and their
families are now being denied any space to voice their protest, with all
their appeals for permission to continue their
peaceful demonstration at any given site being met with steady refusal.
Manesar has been veritably turned into a
militarized zone with heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces in
the entire industrial area and permission
being denied to any program being organized by trade unions or workers
organization, extending even to as basic a
freedom of expression as distributing a pamphlet. Such are the conditions,
in which the workers have decided to launch
afresh their attempts to be heard by our administrators and have declared a
peaceful demonstration and an indefinite
hunger strike in Manesar starting on 18th July, 2013. In our opinion, such
a challenge to the abject denial of their
democratic rights by the workers will not only lend courage to the numerous
other voices lying buried under the glitzy
story of mounting profits in the entire industrial area, but also to all
other democratic voices in the country struggling to
be heard.
The treatment being meted out to the workers of Maruti and their family is
a message to the people of the entire
country that no argument for justice or rights shall be considered in the
face of encouraging “development” and
investment at any cost. On the passing of a year since the incident which
has now come to epitomize the strong hand of
corporate influence over justice and democracy; in the glow of the
determination of the workers to continue their
struggle against the many odds that face them; sharing their spirit and
courage, we appeal to you to stand in solidarity
with the struggling workers of Maruti Suzuki and against the ongoing
ridicule of democratic rights. Further, to create a
common platform for our messages of solidarity to the workers’ ongoing
struggle movement and to send a clear signal
to the administration and the judiciary that the people of this country
will not remain silent bystanders to the violation
of all democratic rights, let us meet on July 13. Your presence and support
will go a long way!
Immediately Release All Arrested Workers of Maruti!
Stop the Routine Violation of Democratic Rights!
Stop Favouring Profits over People!