Shankar Gopalakrishnan

The struggle for justice of the Rockman and Satyam Auto workers continues. Since last Sunday, 12 more workers from both factories have been on hunger strike at the Parade Grounds in Dehradun (and are now on their eighth day). A rally is going to be taken out by the workers shortly.

The original 11 hunger strikers, five of whom had been on hunger strike since April 6th and six from April 9th, and who had been forcibly hospitalised since April 15th, were discharged from hospital at the end of last week. They called off their hunger strike late last week after being severely beaten on the night of April 19th and forcibly put on drips (see photos here), tearing out the drips, and being threatened with further beatings. The workers decided on this after noting that further beatings would probably result in some of their comrades losing their lives.

The strike continues and has now crossed almost six weeks for the Rockman workers and five weeks for the Satyam Auto workers. There is no sign of any negotiation on the part of the government or the companies. No action has been taken against either the police for their brutality or the companies for their gross violations of labour law.

Nothing, not hunger strikes nor protests nor month-long strikes, is enough to move the conscience of the Central and State governments, wedded as they are to brutal exploitation of workers by any means possible. But the workers have refused to give up.

For background on the strike and struggle, see here. For more information please contact Amit, Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra (09568216305) and/or Trepan Singh Chauhan, Uttarakhand Nav Nirman Mazdoor Sangh (09411143539).

Shankar Gopalakrishnan

The strike by the workers of Rockman and Satyam Auto (both plants in Haridwar), suppliers of Hero Motors, has now crossed a month in length. 11 hunger strikers are still being forcibly detained in hospital. The Rockman workers have been on strike now for five weeks (since March 19th) and the Satyam Auto workers for almost as long (since March 22nd). Six Rockman workers have been on hunger strike since April 6th (19 days); five Satyam workers since April 9th (16 days); and 12 more workers since Sunday. These last 12 hunger strikers have not yet been detained. The workers are still protesting in the Parade Ground at Dehradun after their release from jail last week.

Aside from an expression of regret by the DGP (who has also said he has directed an inquiry into the beating of the hunger strikers in the hospital), the government has taken no action whatosever. Both companies – which grossly violated labour law – are functioning with contract workers and supplying to Hero Motors, which reportedly is accepting substandard and shoddy parts from them just in order to break the strikers.

As earlier, for more details please contact Trepan Singh Chauhan, Uttarakhand Nav Nirman Mazdoor Sangh (09411143539), and/or Amit, Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra (09568216305.

Shankar Gopalakrishnan

At the moment the struggle of the Rockman and Satyam Auto workers in Dehradun continues. The 11 hunger strikers continue to resist forcefeeding though they have been forced into accepting drips for now. The way in which they were forced to do that should be apparent from the photos below, which were taken after the beating of these hunger strikers on Thursday night. It takes a special level of brutality to beat a group of extremely weak hunger strikers into submission.

It is understood that the DG of Police today informed a workers’ delegation (accompanied by representatives of Inquilab Mazdoor Kendra and Uttarakhand Nav Nirman Mazdoor Sangh) that he has directed an inquiry into this violence.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government has shown no interest in holding the companies accountable.

Shankar Gopalakrishnan

The struggle of the Rockman and Satyam Auto workers is continuing in Dehradun. The 11 workers who have been on hunger strike since April 4th were transferred to the ICU of Doon Hospital on Thursday evening and then beaten up that night in order to force them to accept IV drips. One was beaten so badly that he began to bleed from his wounds. The workers resisted the IVs and repeatedly have tried to remove them; this battle is continuing. On Friday they registered a complaint against the beatings. The remaining 326 workers are still in the Parade Ground, Dehradun, after repeated rallies, and today another 40 workers were considering joining the hunger strike.

The management continues to ignore the struggle and the protests. The government has made no effort to reinitiate any dialogue. The workers demanded that the SDM tell them why this is happening, he professed ignorance and said he will check with his superiors.

Meanwhile, since practically the entire permanent workforce of both Rockman and Satyam Auto is out on strike, it has been something of a mystery as to how they continue to supply Hero Motors. It is understood that the three managements have reached an agreement whereby Hero has suspended its quality rules and are accepting the inferior parts being made by overworked and new contract workers that have been press-ganged into replacing the strikers. This is of course a betrayal of those who purchase Hero products and could have safety implications.

An update on the ongoing struggle by Rockman and Satyam Auto workers in Uttarakhand. As reported yesterday, 326 workers are in jail and 11 hunger striking workers are detained in hospital. As of yesterday evening, all 326 workers in jail have joined the hunger strike. The 11 hunger strikers already in hospital have resisted force feeding. They are weakening but still in good health.

It is understood that the SDM has directed their detention until April 20th, though the legal provisions under which this has been done are not clear. The government has also announced to TV channels that the Labour Commissioner will be asked to intervene. Protests are planned today and tomorrow in Dehradun.
Shankar Gopalakrishnan

Shankar Gopalakrishnan

Between 12 and 1 today, the Uttarakhand police lathi charged more than 300 workers who have been sitting on a protest in Dehradun for the last ten days. 11 workers who have been on hunger strike (six from April 6th and five who joined them on April 9th) have been forcibly hospitalised in Doon Hospital, where they are resisting attempts to forcefeed them. 326 workers have been arrested and detained in various jails in the city.

The workers have been on strike for more than three weeks now. They are employees of the Rockman and Satyam Auto plants in Haridwar, both major suppliers of Hero Motors. As in Manesar, Haryana last year, these workers are being paid extremely low wages for more than 12 hours of work a day; when they sought to form a union to demand respect for labour laws, the five leaders of the union were illegally sacked immediately and the others threatened with punishment. On March 19th the majority of permanent workers at Rockman came out on strike in protest at this illegal brutality, and on March 22nd they were joined by all the permanent workers at Satyam. Their main demands are:

1. That they be allowed to form a union as per law, which both companies are trying to suppress;
2. That the five workers who were illegally terminated be reinstated;
3. That all labour laws be complied with within the factory;
4. That their wages be made proportionate to the workload and that they should be paid overtime as required by law.

In the first week of April, in an attempt to suppress their protest, the Uttarakhand government declared section 144 in force in Haridwar. On April 4th the workers sough to come to teh capital, Dehradun, to take out a peaceful march. This too was thwarted by the police, whereupon the workers sat down on dharna at the Parade Ground in the city. On the 6th, six Rockman workers went on hunger strike, and they were joined by five Satyam workers on the 9th. They have been fasting ever since, weakening every day.

No response has come from the government. When a delegation sought to meet the Chief Minister, he told them that these workers are overpaid, that the strike and protest is a conspiracy, and that they would be “dealt with.” The meaning of those words has been demonstrated today.

Workers in other factories in Haridwar, including in Eveready ITC, VIP, and the public sector company Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., have declared their support for the strike. A protest and delegation from other factories in Haridwar is planned tomorrow.

For more details please contact Trepan Singh Chauhan, Uttarakhand Nav Nirman Mazdoor Sangh (09411143539), and/or Amit, Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra (09568216305).

Inputs and Photos
by Trepan Singh Chauhan,
Uttarakhand Nav-Nirman Mazdoor Sangh

The 2011 Maruti Suzuki workers strike at Manesar (Gurgaon) has already become a metaphor for the new wave of industrial unrest in India, especially against the neoliberal industrial regime that makes the criminal violation of all kinds of regulation and labour laws by the corporate sector an imperative for growth and development. Manesar has come to signify the will of the workers to counter capital by spontaneous and solidaristic uprisings.

On April 4, Business Standard reported the strike in Haridwar in Satyam Auto and Rockman Industries, two leading auto parts suppliers to Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler company. This report was aptly captioned “Haridwar factories brew Manesar-like labour situation”. The strike, which has been going on for the last two weeks, has not been reported by any local or mainstream newspapers. According to the Business Standard report:

A two-week strike is unusual, but the managements of both companies have refused to agree to the workers’ demands. Unlike previous strikes here, this industrial action shows signs of disturbing the peace in the region, with support pouring in from workers at other companies. For the past one decade Haridwar and its neigbouring areas have seen investments from leading companies like Hindustan Unilever, luggage manufacturer VIP, battery manufacturer Eveready, and Hero MotoCorp. According to the BS report, “around 850 companies here employ over 70,000 people.”

So, as workers from the two strike-hit companies staged a protest here on Tuesday, outside the offices of the district administration, they were supported by workers from companies such as VIP, Eveready ITC and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL). A similar march was taken out last Wednesday, too. Major trade unions such as the All India Trade Union Congress and Hind Mazdoor Sabha have supported the protesting workers. So are 13 workers’ unions at the public sector engineering major, BHEL. Workers at Eveready and VIP have presented their respective companies with charters of demands, including wage hike.

Since yesterday (April 4), workers of Rockman Industries and Satyam Auto have been occupying the Parade Ground, Dehradun (the capital city of Uttarakhand), and were on a day long fast today to press for their demands.