aruti unrest - an issue of globalization vs.

contractuaUzation
Recent industrial unrest in Maruti Plant located in Manesar Gurgaon industrial area has attracted the attention of the nation as well as industrial giants of corporate world. This unrest has resulted not only in human loss. death of a senior HR officer and hundreds injured but also financial loss of crores of rupees and impprtantly, closure of hundred of ancillary industries throwing thousands to unemployment. Since then much has been debated and covered' both by electronic and print media. Some termed it as a law and order issue, some' attribute i.t to industrial dispute issue and others see this as a great social issue as termed by Azim Premji (wipro chief)' as social unrest. After going through all these confusion and confrontation seem to be the order of the day both towards possibl~ reasons and remedial measures of such recurrent happenings in recent time in various well known industrial hubs of the country namely. Noida, Visha.l<apatnam and Gurgaon etc. Without being repetitive, I would like to highlight few factors:(1) More than 90% of workforce is in the unorganized sector in the country. (2) Approximately 40% of population remain hungry even unable to get a decent meal a day. (3) 650 million Indians squat in the open because they do not have access to toilets. (4) Literacy rate restricted to around 70% of the population (read and write). (5) In case in question. out of 3000 workers in Manesar Plant of Maruti, 70% are contract workers. In above background,.we need not go too far to find reasons for such industrial unrest on the rise in our country. Ofcourse main reasons can be categorised into two:(1) Growing aspirations of young population from 'Simple living high thinking' to high living low thinking. Growing casualisation in the workforce in industries/establishments resulting in wide disparities in wage and working conditions between contract and regular workers .. In facl one report says out of the industrial disputes between January and May._2012there are 95 strikes and 13 lockouts against 176 and 36 respectively during the whole 2011 (Survey Labour Bureau, Shimla). Another report indicates under-payment to contract workers vis-a-vis regular workers in that employee 'cost as a percentage to sales for Maruti remain around 2.2% against 4.56% of Bajaj auto and 3.47% of Hero Motors Corporation. Ofcourse this may be attributed to increased automation and high outsourdng to vendors as far as Maruti is concerned. (1)

Instead of taking a myopic view of the situation, let us discuss remedial measures for arresting this industrial unrest and taking India to 'peace for productivity' for greatest good of greatest number by taking following urgent steps:The much awaited labour reforms by giving teeth to 'same work same pay' principie, thereby assuring decent wage and wo . conditions for contract workers. (2) Minimum social security benefits - heal ca-'=' and ~ash benefits for loss of wages sickness, disability. death and unemplo me. etc. for all categories of employees. (3) Better HR practice through: (i) awareness and educative programmes of various rights and duties of workmen. (ii) proper grievance handling machinery to prevent going to conflict stage as happened in Maruti. & (iii) Importantly proper dispute resolution structure. All these will ensure a person to settle his/her grievance at the floor level instead of going to Union. In fact I agree with the view of Gurucharan Das in his Sunday Times of India Coloum I quote "Suzuki should ask itself if it has the right Rerson in cha --: .. (4) 'Better enforce ~~n1of Labour Laws with human face will grea'. s re 9 hen benefits reading the' target gro 'Po ere the workers. The traditional app a of each on it's own should give way to a je' i spection of ESI. EPFO and Labour Commissioner with primary objective bei g to see whether the benefits of social security are beIng followed and not for revenue collection only. This will not only arrest duplication of work amor.g various law enforcement agencies but will greatly reduce administrative cost for the organizatiqns as a whole. besides gaining the co fidence of the stakeholders of the scheme. Whenever we talk of reforms. so caned lobby to maintain status quo will always bring fina cial constraint as the biggest obstacle for bringing an,! change which is far from truth. There is not dearth of fund but it is lack of positive mindset which is the greatest stumbling block to real progress in the industrial scenario of our country. Let us all Politicians, bureaucrats, corporate houses and Trade Unions came together to provide the minimum social security for all while we are going to celebrate 65th Independence day on 15th August. 2012 and assure decent living for all workmen in the country towards industrial peace and prosperity for the nation. ( B.K. Sahu )

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Commissioner, E.S.I.C, Govtof India, New Delhi