Saturday, January 28, 2012

MILITANCY IN INDIAN INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENTS

Blue collared work force in India, of late, has been resorting to senseless, deplorable and condemnable acts of mob violence, destruction and homicide of their co-workers.
There have been numerous incidents of unjust flash strikes and damages to the Industrial establishments causing enormous damage to the reputation of our country as a fast developing nation and its GDP growth. However, the most deplorable is the killing of White collared co-workers and management personnel of their own establishments.
The following homicide incidents are a stark admonition of the bleak work culture, attitudes and human relationships with in the Industrial establishments:
·        Mr. Chandrasekhar, President of Regency ceramics, Yanam plant in Andhra Pradesh state of    Federal India is beaten to death by disgruntled workers in support of a laid-off worker.
·        Mr. Roy George, Vice President of Pricol Ltd, on the outskirts of Coimbatore city, Tamil Nadu, India was attacked and killed by angry workers in support of a laid-off worker.
·        Mr. Joginder Singh, the human resources manager of Allied Nippon, Ghaziabad, India, succumbed to his injuries after he and other senior officials were attacked by the dismissed employees.
·        Mr. Radhey Shyam Roy, Deputy General Manager at Graphite India Ltd., in the town of Balangir, Orissa state, India, was set ablaze and burnt to death by the laid-off workers of the plant.
·        Mr. Lalit Kishore Choudhary, the head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, a manufacturer of car parts that has its headquarters in Italy, died of severe head wounds after being attacked by scores of laid-off employees.

The main reason behind all these incidents is laying-off workers and suspension of the workers union leaders due to their illegal activities and their in-efficient work at their work place.
Logically and practically, no company, in its elements will try foregoing a trained, well-oiled and efficient work force as this move of purging existing workforce not only affects its productivity but also burdens its financial and human resources in training new work force.
Unfortunately, formation of trade unions by blue collared workers and its consequent election processes, is nurturing both political ambitions and desire for financial benefits in some individuals. Thus they are growing beyond their defined roles and causing unrest in the Industrial establishments. Unfortunately, our Vote bank politics and its masters have rehabilitated such scrupulous leaders as their protégés for political gains. There are many instances of unconnected politicians getting elected to trade union bodies and diluting the work culture in the Industrial establishments.  Unfortunately, Indian Industry managers are faced with a unique situation of competing with Global peers by increasing productivity at the same time dealing with unruly trade union leaders and their unjust demands.
As a case in view, Regency ceramics is a loss making company and its workers have been demanding bonuses and perks beyond the company’s means which resulted in suspension of a founder leader of the unit’s trade union, subsequent flash strike, punching of attendance cards by union leaders despite not working, forcing their co-workers from working, disrupting daily production activities despite giving an undertaking not to disrupt the work et al. The death of a trade union leader in imminent police action, no doubt, is highly regrettable and avoidable. However, consequent actions by the irate militant workers of brutally killing the President of the ceramic plant, setting fire in the plant premises and physically causing severe damage to the important equipment, electronic parts, vehicles, computers and other assets is not only condemnable but liable to be instantly punishable by law.

Such acts have not only affected the livelihood of their co-workers, but also are affecting thousands of people who are making their livelihood indirectly. It is high time that Governments at federal level and regional level, setting aside vote bank politics, regulate the trade unionism, safe guard interests of all sections of Industry and formulate stringent actions against violators.
Opening up of the economy to the Global competition alone is meaningless unless it is supplemented by considerable improvement in Infrastructure, thrust on Human Resources development and improvement in work culture & their attitudes.  The ONUS is not only on Governments but also on all sections of society including Print and visual media to portray and react to the events rightly in the long term interest of the nation and our future generations.

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