Apropos your cover story The Autopsy Report (Aug 6), the Japanese work culture and their admiration for the Gandhian trusteeship approach to industrial relations works wonders. However, Japanese bosses are not all that sweet to their subordinates in foreign countries. The massive violence and industrial unrest at the Honda Activa plant in Gurgaon a few years back was triggered by Japanese managers’ derogatory name-calling of Indian workers. It was the latter, though, who were brutally put down by the Haryana police. Regarding Maruti’s troubles at Manesar, one needs to find out if the unheard-of worker indiscipline and trade union militancy were an act of sabotage by rival business interests. It must also be noted that industrial relations in the automobile industry have been at an all-time low in different parts of India, including at Kirloskar in Bangalore. In the post-liberalisation era, contract labour, increasing job insecurity, poor wages and dismal working conditions are, of course, reasons for labour unrest, but the government too is often pro-capitalist/ industrialist. If such employee grievances are not settled at the earliest through government initiative, such labour problems, as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (also a well-known trade unionist and industrial relations expert) had said, will metamorphose into major political issues.
G. Anuplal, Bangalore
It is regrettable that I have been quoted totally out of context in your cover story, as if I am of the opinion that the problems at Maruti were attributable to the nonchalance of the management. This is not only incorrect but misguiding. My basic position is that the recent Maruti Suzuki incident was not a matter of trade unionism or labour conditions, but a case of criminality, which is not mentioned anywhere. The correct quotation should have been “Difficult to say but with the benefit of hindsight one can always argue that they should have been more cautious to stop the escalating tensions or that Maruti Suzuki should have been aware of the pent-up emotions among the workers, but these are all easier said than done. In this particular instance there is no excuse for such a criminal behaviour.”
Tamaki Tsukada, Embassy of Japan in India, New Delhi
Why is it that all the unrest happens only in Manesar, and not any other Maruti plant? Is it because it is the plant that the competition fears the most, given that it produces India’s highest-selling cars—the Swift and the Dzire?
Gaurav Nigam, on e-mail
Political appointees on the shop floor, union leaders (social scums quite a few of them), goondaism by our political leaders, police inaction (because the constable has paid substantial consideration for the job), a self-centred, unaccountable and corrupt bureaucracy, absence of social and general discipline in our schools, society and polity leading to the degeneration of our collective moral fibre—these are some of the causes of such horrible events as the violence in Manesar.
D.C. Joshi, Jaipur
I have done consulting with the auto industry and have been on production floors. I can vouch that not only are these guys well-paid but also have perks and conditions that could be the envy of corporates. Nothing of the sort that your story seems to think actually happened. The fact is that unions exist today not to protect workers but to keep them in check for political gains.
Jatinjit Singh, New Delhi
Even a guard at an apartment complex earns Rs 5,000-6,000 a month for a job not requiring much skill. Surely a factory worker, that too at an automobile factory with a good market share and a global brand, can ask for more humane and fair compensation?
Rajesh Chary, Mumbai
It appears that in their quest for driving worker productivity, the Suzuki management ignored HR issues at the factory in recent years, and paid for it. They need to review worker motivation issues. In many instances, a change in a company’s personnel policies has resulted in better worker productivity. At the same time, asking for a change in HR management does not mean condoning workplace violence.
Dipto C., New York
You blame the Japanese management ethos and the Indian work culture. However, if goonda elements enter the workforce, any company would be helpless. Ditto with Maruti.
Dinesh Kumar, Chandigarh
Wages can be raised, of course, but they may make the plant uncompetitive because other costs like transport and energy are higher in India, the price of having a shoddy infrastructure. The only way to be competitive in India is to keep salaries low.
M.K. Saini, New Delhi
Both the management and the workers’ union at Maruti are to be blamed for not taking recourse to the grievance redressal mechanism available in the Industrial Disputes Act. It’s also sad that, despite the earlier violence at Manesar and the subsequent 33-day lockout, the management did not do anything to address worker issues. It’s time the government too amended outdated and archaic labour laws, to draft legislation that protects both management and worker interest.
K.R. Srinivasan, Secunderabad
The Japanese had quite a different approach to work culture in their industrial establishments till the arrival of western capitalistic companies in the country. They used to give their employees a lifetime attachment to their industries, so much so that two-three generations often remained employed with the same firm.
H.C. Pandey, Delhi
Nothing, absolutely nothing justifies the brutal killing of the HR manager at Maruti.
Ashu, Indore
Great companies are not built on the foundations of the misery of labourers. The Manesar imbroglio is a case in point.
K. Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore
How is it that there are no riots at other Japanese automakers or even at other Maruti plants?
Arun Murthy, Bangalore
So, we don’t want foreign management ethos, but don’t mind FDI! Remember Kanpur, once called the Manchester of India, had big companies fleeing it due to the communist unions.
Dinesh Chauksey, Bhopal
India has lost the top manufacturing position to China already. Services alone can’t provide jobs to our teeming youth. Nor are such jobs sustainable.
Shubhang Pandya, Ahmedabad
