Govt pats its back for peaceful 2010

But silent on sporadic labour violence.

The government has praised itself for maintaining industrial peace, citing reduced number of strikes and lockouts, but was silent on sporadic labour violence and contract-based appointments of non-unionised workforce.

The Economic Survey 2010-11 said, “Due to the constant endeavour of industrial relations machineries of both the Centre and states, the industrial relations climate has generally remained peaceful and cordial. The number of incidents of strikes and lockouts has exhibited a declining trend over the past few years. Strikes and lockouts have declined from 349 in 2009 to 99 in 2010. Correspondingly, the total number of mandays lost has also declined from 9169,037 in 2009 to 1699,826 in 2010.”

According to the All India Trade Union Congress National Secretary D L Sachdeva, there is no machinery for monitoring or enforcing basic entitlements like minimum wages, which make labour law violations routine. Workers are not able to form unions, as most of them are on contract. So, there were no strikes and that was not a reflection of a cordial atmosphere, he said.

The list of industrial action in 2010 compiled by this paper included a general strike by trade unions on disinvestment and price rise, strikes and prolonged agitations by the ports and the aviation sectors. Ports unions across the country went on strike against the government’s move to corporatise port trusts. A two-day strike by Air India employees led to the cancellation of about 100 flights.

Many incidents of industrial action were triggered by management’s objection to the formation of unions. The year started with strikes at Nokia and Hyundai Motors’ factories in Tamil Nadu. The employees were demanding the recognition of their unions.

MRF and Foxconn also faced strikes on the same issue. At Foxconn, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) was at the forefront of the agitation, with at least seven of its leaders behind bars, as the management sought to prop up the Labour Progressive Federation, allegedly backed by the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, at the cost of the workers’ interest.

In October, workers at auto parts manufacturer Allied Nippon’s factory in Ghaziabad lynched a manager. The workers were protesting the layoffs of their co-workers and the official was accused of bullying workers. The garment industry saw a prolonged agitation at the factory of Viva Global in Gurgaon, Haryana, over overtime rates and working hours. Marks & Spencer, a regular buyer, was accused of winking at labour law violations.