The Pathetic Conditions of the Former
Maruti-Suzuki Workers for Survival
Japan’s Indian subsidiary the
Maruti-Suzuki of India has been
thriving by earning more and more
profits and remitting huge
amounts of royalty to its parent
company and is boasting as if it is
revising the salaries of its workers
(only the permanent workers) to
their satisfaction and conducting
negotiated settlement with
workers.
But when we look in to the
lives of its former workers who
were dismissed from their jobs
after the episode of industrial strife
on July 18, 2012, at Manesar
plant, who have presently been
turning earth and heaven to eke
out a dignified lively hood and
survival and their pathetic
conditions, it becomes clear that
how the big capital in connivance
with the Indian state inhumanly
plays with the workers with
disastrous consequences.
After the above mentioned
episode of industrial strife in
July,2012, 150 workers were
picked up by the police from their
parent’s homes, from shared
rented rooms in workers
tenements and from streets and
were pushed in to Bhondsi Jail.
These were charged under 18
sections of the Indian Penal Code
including murder. Another 60
workers were named as
absconders and nearly 2,500
were dismissed amid an
14
avalanche of negative media
publicity for workers.
From 2012(July) onwards
they remained in jail being their bail
applications rejected. While
turning down a plea for bail in May
2013, a Punjab and Haryana court
observed “The incident is most
unfortunate occurrence which has
lowered the representation of India
in the estimation of the world.
Foreign investors are not likely to
invest money in India out of fear
of labour unrests”. Thus eve