Workers in Gurgaon-Manesar belt oppose mass sacking by Maruti

Gurgaon: Workers from different factories in the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt along with trade unions cutting across political affiliations on Friday opposed sacking of 500 workers at Maruti Suzuki India's (MSI) Manesar plant and demanded their immediate reinstatement.

Representatives of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) and Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union (MUKU) held a rally in Gurgaon on Friday against the MSI management decision.

It was also attended by workers from Maruti Suzuki's Gurgaon plant, Hero MotoCorp, Rico Auto, Sunbeam Auto, Satyam Auto, Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd, Lumax Auto, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Xerox India and Sona Koyo Steering Systems.

Workers from different factories in the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt joined the protest.

"We want an impartial inquiry into the violence (at MSI's Manesar plant). We demand a CBI inquiry into the entire incident," CITU Haryana State Secretary Raj Singh said.

Expressing opposition to the sacking of workers, MUKU General Secretary Kuldeep Jhangu said: "We demand that all the workers at Manesar plant who have been issued termination notices must be reinstated".

Action should be taken only against the culprits and they should be prosecuted, he said, adding innocent workers must not be harassed.

"We will also give a memorandum to the company management for this. However, we will not stop work at the Gurgaon plant and we will continue to work," Jhangu said.

Expressing similar sentiments, Hero MotoCorp Worker's Union Vice-President Ajit Pal said: "Only those found guilty must be punished and that process is already on. What was the need for the company to sack these many workers?"

On Thursday, MSI Chairman had announced that the company was terminating the services of 500 workers at Manesar plant saying the management has "lost confidence in them" for their alleged involvement in the July 18 violence in which one senior executive was killed and nearly 100 others injured.

Friday's rally was attended by about 2,000 people who also highlighted the plight of workers in different factories in the region, apart from calling for abolition of contract labour.

"There have been numerous instances of exploitation by company management in this industrial belt. This should be stopped and everyone should be given equitable salaries as per the amount of work done," CITU's Singh said.

Demanding equitable salary for the amount of work done, Singh also said the minimum wages in Haryana's industries must be raised to Rs 15,000 per month.

He further said the government should immediately amend the archaic labour laws, "which have many provisions that favour management".

The workers later submitted a memorandum addressed to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to Gurgaon DC PC Meena.

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