Japanese Auto Giant Maruti Suzuki India: Reeling in Profits, Violating Workers Rights says PUDR report

On 23 May 2013 in Chandigarh the Delhi based human rights organisation People’s Union For Democratic rights released its detailed report on the rights violations committed at Maruti Suzuki India’s Manesar plant in Haryana while also documenting the struggle of workers. A short excerpt from the conclusion of the report is posted below along with the content pages of the report. The Full text PDF version is also posted below

"This report has been an attempt to expose the truth behind the Maruti ‘way of life,’ the denial of workers’ democratic rights by India’s most powerful auto company, the active abetment in the process by the state, and to understand the present context of struggle and repression in Maruti. It reveals how the unrelenting and seamless nature of the nexus between police, the administration, the management and the judiciary is blatantly serving the interests of capital. The absence of any semblance of protection for workers of the automobile industry, the most advanced industrial sector, which is heralded by the neo- liberal regime as its hallmark, brings to light the grave challenges before the working class today. The possibilities for justice in this scenario appear very bleak.
The oligarchs who make up Indian Inc. and who are so concerned about the worsening ‘investment climate’, should engage in some soul-searching. They should ask themselves - whether they should continue to treat the Indian worker simply as a cost factor that has to be reduced to zero or should they treat them with a little more respect, so that they too can live, and work, with dignity." [. . .].

Contents:

• Background 2
• Dehumanisation of work-force 10
• The struggle 22
• The incident and its aftermath 27
• Conclusion 36

Tables:

• I Employee Salaries & Benefits 6
• II Timeline of Developments and labour Stuggle at Maruti 7

Boxes:

1. Policies, Growth and Wages: The Auto Industry 5
2. Human Robots 1 12
3. Illusion of pay revision 16
4. Human Robots 2 21

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DRIVING FORCE Labour Struggles and Violation of Rights in Maruti Suzuki India Limited

A PUDR Report
May 2013