Spurred into action by a company lockout, the government islooking into the recent violence at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant, concernedthat the increasing frequency and severity of clashes between workers andmanagement is hurting India's image.
“This incident, though it is not related to any policyissue, would further dent India as an investment destination," apublication quoted an unnamed government official as saying. "Thegovernment would look into the various issues including labor laws andcorporate governance."
Another national publication arguesthat India's labourproblems "must be addressed nationally. India has developed a strong tradeunion movement but it has insufficient legal safeguards against unreasonableand militant trade union activity, which is harming the formal sector anddiscouraging investment."
Citing five incidents of similar violence in recent years,it claims that "foreign investors may be wary about sinking their moneyinto a state offering insufficient protection" and calls for revision of lawsthat "excessively valorised labor’s right to employment over theentrepreneur’s right to security."
Similarly, yet another publication spoke about a possibleMaoist connection to the violence in Manesar, in which a plant manager waskilled and more than 40 management personnel were injured in an altercationwith angry workers last week.
Intelligence agencies have been asked to investigate whetherMaoists are infiltrating trade unions in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt, which haswitnessed serious labour trouble in the past few years, the paper said, quotingunnamed sources.
Whenever folks are accused by unnamed sources of beingconnected to the Maoists, your radar should start pinging. And howeverreprehensible the violence is in this case, it's a little unfair to dismiss theworkers' grievances out of hand.
Yes, Maruti pays better than farm labor. But if it's such apicnic to work there, why do the foreign bosses draw "hardship pay"for spending time away from home in Japan? Isn't the cost of living lower inIndia? Shouldn't they be as happy to take a pay cut as their workers are toearn a bit more than they might turning screws at a local sweat shop?
