[Excerpts from the report of an AICCTU team comprising Santosh Roy, (National Secretary, AICCTU), N. M. Thomas (National Vice-President, AICCTU), Shankaran (State Vice-President, AICCTU), V. K. S. Goutam (National Councillor), Ardhendu Roy (NC), Sarvaraj (NC) and Rajinder Singh (NC) which went to meet the aggrieved workers of the Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) in order to inquire about the situation on 26th July 2005. The delegation visited the wounded workers in the Sadar Hospital and adjoining areas, interviewed the local people and the police personnel on duty about the incident. The delegation was not allowed to meet the workers who were arrested and kept under police custody at Sadar Thana; nor were they able to meet the union leaders as there was no information regarding their whereabouts. On the basis of the personal accounts of the incident gathered, the following report was submitted]
ACCORDING to a rough estimate given by the workers of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India, 3,500 employees are on roll. Among them, nearly 1,000 were permanent and the remaining employees were working as line associates. Tension began in the company in the month of December 2004 when a visiting Japanese Honda official reportedly kicked and slapped a worker in the welding unit and terminated four of them for allegedly carrying on trade union activities and demanding a hike in wages. The workers had been trying to register their union during this period, and in order to curb any kind of organized effort on the part of the workers relating to issues of employment and wages, hire and fire policies, etc. the management began terminating and suspending the leaders and activists, Suresh Gaud, C. D. Takkar and one Surinder and others. Subsequently fifty more were suspended on charges of misconduct and indiscipline within factory premises. The problems within the factory kept accumulating and on 25th June advertisements for fresh recruitment of line associates were out. On 27th June, the agitating workers who reported for duty were forcibly debarred from entering the factory premises as an illegal lockout had been declared. The management had suspended 1,900 employees by then, and according to a well thought-out plan sabotaged the production, reducing it by almost 75%. As the agitation intensified, in the third week of July, the management met a delegation of the workers in the Labour Commissioner’s Office at Chandigarh and agreed that 1,600 employees would be taken back in batches of 400 provided they gave a written undertaking giving up their rights to unionize and register protest, violating all norms of labour relations in the name of maintaining discipline. But the management was hardly interested in abiding by the promises they made. The uncertainty caused forced the workers to once again take to the streets. The large-scale victimization of the workers by the management all through the month-long agitation had intensified the feelings of insecurity on the one hand, and resentment on the other. The team found that the Labour Conciliation Office at Gurgaon and the Labour Commissioner’s Office at Chandigarh had not taken any initiative to address the issue of dispute. The Haryana police had conducted raids at the instigation of the Honda management threatening the striking workers with dire consequences.
Nearly 3,000 workers assembled at the Kamla Nehru Park on Monday to peacefully demonstrate against the anti-worker stance of the Honda management that had not only ignored the demands of the workers but also tried to use all kinds of pressure tactics to disrupt their unity and threatened them persistently so that they roll back their agitation. The unarmed workers had assembled with prior permission of the police and had planned to march in an organized manner to the Mini Secretariat to demonstrate for their rights. As the procession started to march towards the ITI Chowk, they saw that a group of policemen in plain clothes and certain intelligence officers merged within their rank and file. When they reached the ITI Chowk, the procession was stopped by a contingent of armed policemen under the charge of SDM Jai Singh Sagwan and DSP (Head Quarter), Jag Parvez Dahiya. They asked them to call off the procession and when the workers did not relent, they cracked down on them. One of the workers heading the procession received a severe blow on the head and seeing him wallowing in a pool of blood, his compatriots snatched the lathis from the police personnel deployed for the action. The sheer number of the workers and their moral cause was enough for them to overpower the police force and despite the casualties they suffered, they marched on. When the procession had moved quite some distance ahead, workers at the back witnessed that the group of unidentified men who were among them had retreated and had started pelting stones at the police. Some of them also saw a police gypsy on fire and they allege it was the handiwork of the plain-clothed miscreants among them planted by the administration to create a ‘just’ cause for the brutality unleashed on them later in the most inhumane of manners. The workers reached the Mini Secretariat by 2.30 p.m. and assembled in an open area as they had already informed the administration about their intentions. Despite the scorching heat of the day, almost 36 degree Celcius, - the dust, sweat and blood accumulated on the three hour long walk, - hardly were they prepared for the sequel that was yet to happen. The workers started settling down under the clump of trees in the area in the park adjoining the Secretariat when they were informed that Sudhir Rajpal, Deputy Commissioner, would like to meet their delegation. Little did they know of the reinforcements that were taking place behind the scenes as the Haryana police had called for assistance from the neighbouring districts and also sought the help of RAF, Haryana Reserved Police Force and fleets of the Fire Brigade. What happened to Rajpal’s commitment to meet the workers delegation is still a mystery. In its place, he ordered the combined troops of the state to attack the protestors. In fact, he was the first man (armed with his helmet and lathi) to strike the workers. Surrounding the workers on all sides the police started reigning blows on their heads, arms and legs creating a bloody mayhem. The workers who tried to escape were chased and caught and spread-eagled on the ground, they were beaten up with lathis and police boots relentlessly for lawfully demanding their wages and their dignity as workers. The violence continued for more than an hour and not a single worker among the 3,000 could escape unscathed. The verbal expletives that were hurled by the uniformed ‘protectors’ of law were targeted at the workers who dared to raise their voices against the atrocities perpetrated by their management. Phrases like ‘Ab bolo hum sab ek hain’, ‘lal lal lehraiga’, were hurled by the police with uncalled for contempt and bitter venom ridiculing the efforts of the Honda workers who were engaged in the month-long agitation. The battered and bleeding protestors were herded into buses and taken to various police stations, mainly Sadar, where neither first aid was given nor a drop of water to quench their thirst. According to a rough estimate, more than a 1,000 workers have suffered multiple fractures on their arms and legs and also their heads. Due to lack of proper medical attention, it is still unknown as to the nature of the cranial concussions and fractures they have suffered and what their long-term implications are. On the 26th of July 2005, when the families of the aggrieved asked for information about their near and dear ones, they met with another round of lathi-charge, tear gas shelling and blank firing near the Civil Hospital. If there is any one lesson that we can draw from the heroic struggle waged by the Honda workers, it is the tenor of the spirit of their resistance. The nature of the State-perpetrated atrocities in Gurgaon is not an isolated incident. It indicates the inability of the ruling alliance to contain the simmering discontent of the Indian working class. There has been a blanket suspension of all labour laws protecting the worker from victimization by managements of industries operating in the National Capital Region (NCR) to encourage the growth of private investment, particularly by the multinational corporations. Gurgaon had become the new El Dorado for profit-making private industries as the government had laid the red carpet welcoming them, giving them all kinds of liberties to do what they liked with the workers. AICCTU expresses solidarity with the on-going struggle of the Honda workers and takes the initiative to campaign widely for their cause. q
THE CPI (ML) has expressed deep anguish and outrage at the barbaric police repression on workers of a Japanese multinational company, the Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), at Gurgaon in Haryana on July 25 which resulted in the death of at least one worker and injury to more than 700. The Party held protests on July 26 in Delhi and several other centres of the country.
At Parliament Street in Delhi, hundreds of Party activists held a demonstration and burnt the effigy of the Haryana Chief Minister. Agitators broke the police barricades. All the protesters were arrested by the police.
An effigy of the Haryana CM was burnt by AICCTU in Robertsganj in UP. Hundreds of workers held a protest demonstration in Ranchi and a protest was also held at Patna. In West Bengal, protest demonstrations were held at Subodh Mallick Square in Kolkata and in Raiganj, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Asansol and many other places. AICCTU also held protests at Bhadreshwar Jute Mill and at few other places in the state. In Tamil Nadu, demonstrations have taken place in Ambattur and Thiruvallur industrial estates under the banner of AICCTU besides protests at some other places including Namakkal and Palempet. Protests were also held at many other centres in the country.
All India Central Council of Trade Unions observed ‘Chetawani Diwas’ on August 1 allover the country to protest the police and administrative repression on the Honda factory workers in Gurgaon. AICCTU demanded that the Prime Minister apologise to the nation on 15 August in his Independence Day speech for this ugly incident.
Protests were organised in many state capitals and important industrial centres including Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Patna, Guwahati, Lucknow, Varanasi, Sonbhadra and Port Blair in Andamans. Programmes were also taken up in almost every district of Bihar while Coal Mines Workers Union in Jharkhand organised protests in Dhanbad, Nirsa and Hazaribagh.
In Delhi, a joint protest dharna and demonstration was held at Jantar-Mantar by AICCTU, CITU, UTUC (LS), UTUC, and TUCC which was also addressed by CPI(ML) MLA in Bihar and All India Agricultural Labour Association’s General Secretary Rameshwar Prasad.
In Guwahati, a protest against this barbaric incident was held on July 28 by CPI(ML) and AICCTU and the effigy of Haryana Chief Minster was burnt near the DC office. Members of AISA and AIPWA also participated in this protest. Another protest was held at Tinsukia town.
In Lucknow, construction workers affiliated with AICCTU burnt the effigy of the Haryana Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda on July 27 in front of the Assembly. Protests were organized and effigies were burnt in Unnao industrial area, Allahabad, Kanpur, Varanasi, and Anpara of district Sonbhadra. q
AN agreement was signed between the management and the pro-AITUC trade union of the Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Ltd on July 30, 2005 in the presence of the Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other senior officials. Honda president and chief executive officer Yukihiro Aoshima, director Masayoki Kato and manager Vivek Vishwanath signed the agreement. Workers union president Suresh Gaur and two other leaders signed on behalf of the workers. As per the agreement, the Honda management agreed to take back all dismissed and suspended employees but the agreement said nothing about the arrested workers who were still in jail. Worse, the union was forced to agree not to press for any demands for one year. The Honda management decided to take back all 50 suspended employees and the four dismissed employees and other agitating trainees and apprentices. But under the agreement, the dismissed employees would have to tender unconditional apology for their “conduct”. Investigation against the suspended workers would continue and they would be posted in departments other than manufacturing after the probe is over. There was no compensation to the injured workers from the Haryana Government. The Deputy Commissioner Sudhir Rajpal and Superintendent of Police Yoginder Singh Nehra were transferred from Gurgaon but no case was filed against them and the demand for their arrest and dismissal from service was not met. The guilty officials were not even suspended even though a judicial enquiry into the incident is pending. The workers were not paid any compensation for the days of work illegally denied to them by the Honda management. The cases against the workers have not yet been withdrawn. The workers who resumed work were forced to sign an undertaking which said they “shall abide by good conduct, discipline, devotion to duty, meet company targets, completely observe the certified standing orders applicable to the establishment and refrain from sabotage activities etc.” But there was no commitment from the Honda management that they would adhere to all labour laws and respect the rights of the trade union. Despite the agreement, the police camp outside the factory gates was not removed. And around 45 personnel from a private security agency were inside the factory. There is apprehension among the workers that these people would unduly harass them. The workers were under tremendous pressure from the management to resume peak production within a few days after resuming work though numerous workers were suffering due to fractures caused by the police lathicharge. q