Managements Are At Liberty In Haryana

From Honda To Liberty: A Tale Of Brutalities

Inderjeet Singh

IN the matter of labour laws, dangerous trends have emerged in recent months in Haryana. The people had voted out the governments at the state and the centre with the hope of getting a better deal. Workers in general started asserting and organising themselves into unions in order to get the labour laws and trade union rights implemented.

Instead of asking the state labour department to come forward to grant the workers their due, the government and the administration placed the police force at the disposal of defaulting managements to suppress the workers’ rights. Ironically Haryana government has refused to learn any lesson despite widespread condemnation of the police brutalities on workers of the Honda factory at Gurgaon in June last.

Some instances are cited below to substantiate the above conclusion:

·     Police was used to terrorise the workers at a dozen places in Panipat during recent weeks. This was done to ‘teach a lesson’ to those men and women workers who had participated in a huge rally of CITU and Khet Mazdoor union on May 28. Police continued to beat workers for three days. In this situation they had to go on strike in several units of sprining industry demanding enforcement of labour laws. This followed a tripartite agreement on  June 7 conceding an 8-hour working day, weekly rest, minimum wages and maintenance of attendance register, equal wages for women etc. Many industrial units are refusing to abide by the agreement and are using police force to suppress the workers movement.

·     On May 4 leadership of the two major unions of Haryana Roadways workers was brutally beaten up at Hisar bus stand when they were putting up a symbolic protest against leasing in of private Volvo buses by the state transport department. This led to a lightening strike through out Haryana which lasted for three days. It is interesting to note here that more than six hundred policemen were deployed to deal with over a hundred activists.

·     On June 6 in Gurgaon the management of ‘M Tee’  hired local anti-social elements who made a murderous attack on union leaders. 12 workers were injured and three of them had to be admitted in Intensive Care Unit. The police framed counter cases on injured workers as well.

·     In Liberty Shoe Co. based at Karnal the management resorted to provocation as a diversionary tactic for not implementing the agreement arrived in October 2005 which the workers union was insisting. On the pretext of an altercation between officials and some workers the police picked up 8 leading activists of the union from their respective residences at the din of night on  June 25. They were beaten up and tortured in police station and serious criminal cases were framed including 307 IPC (attempt to murder). On the other hand no action was initiated against the officials. One Mr. Joshi a manager of the company had tried to run-over his jeep on one of the workers. Fellow workers got enraged when they came to know of the police torture of their leaders in the morning of  June 26. Their instant protest led to traffic jam at the national Highway. The police resorted to indiscriminate lathicharge and fired rubber bullets injuring hundreds of workers including women. The rein of terror was continued for many more days and is still going on while about 50 workers are languishing in jail. They too are charged with section 307 IPC besides many other sections.

Gross violation of human rights too were committed. For instance the injured workers were picked up from the Gharaunda and Karnal hospitals and taken to police station for more beatings and sent to jail.

In Indian Sugar and General Engineering Corporation (ISGEC), based at Yamunanagar, the private management is continuously using police to intimidate the leaders enjoying support of a overwhelming majority of workers who have deserted INTUC and are seeking affiliation with the CITU. Handful of management favoured, discredited workers are being instigated to attack leaders of the newly formed union. After being denied registration by the government to the union enjoying majority support its entire leadership was transferred to far off places in other plants outside Haryana. When the workers protested against this vindictive move on July 1, their procession was attacked by the goondas armed with lathis and swords. Six workers were injured but the police made a very mild case. The workers had informed the police in advance of such an apprehension.

Above instances show a very dangerous practice of the police being put at the disposal of the defaulting managements like their private watch and ward and the labour department is not asked to ensure the implementation of minimum statutory laws. A jungle raj would come to prevail and even the right to live would be at stake if such things do not stop. Let it be recalled that there is a set pattern in these incidents although they might appear as isolated instances. This is a typical phenomenon of the neo-liberal dispensation characterised by unholy nexus of capital hungry government and profit hungry capital. This must be resisted and defeated as it threatens livelihood and dignity of common people.

The CPI(M), CITU and all democracy loving forces are determined to fight back this anti-people stance of the government by mobilising all sections of the people. Workers of the Liberty Co. have expressed their resolve not to be cowed-down and continue to fight against all injustice done to them by the highhanded management and the police. This resolve was reflected in a large rally held at Gharaunda on July 4. The fighting workers have the staunch support of many unions and local people. Many injured workers including women displayed their determination by their prominent presence in the rally.

The rally was addressed among others by Dipankar Mukherjee, secretary CITU, Inderjeet Singh, secretary CPI(M), Haryana state committee, Balbir Dahiya, vice president and Satbir Singh, general secretary of CITU. CPI leaders Raghbir Chaudhary and Dr Harnam Singh also spoke. While lashing out at Haryana government the speakers made it clear that they were neither against investment in industrial sector nor have any special interest to continue the strike in Liberty Industries. It has rather been imposed on the workers. The speakers also called upon the government to immediately release all 50 arrested workers, punish those responsible for the attacks and initiate dialogue towards implementation of the agreement. It was also announced that a delegation of Left parties MPs would soon meet the chief minister of Haryana in this context.