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Preeti Mehra
Neha Kaushik

New Delhi , Aug. 9

IS it the boom in the manufacturing sector or a conducive political atmosphere in the country that is nudging trade union activism to the fore once again? Be it either, it cannot be denied that trade union activity is finding a foothold in the industrial soil.

In fact, the recent labour dispute at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) seems to have rekindled the trade union spirit, with several national level trade unions revealing that there has been an increase in the number of workers visiting their offices since the resolution of the dispute.

The Honda incident, which became national news due to the stark images flashed by the electronic media and could be resolved only after the intervention of the Congress high command, seems to be only symptomatic of a growing list of cases of labour discontent.

In recent months there have been labour issues across a cross section of industry including companies such as Coca-Cola, Toyota, S. Kumar's, and Omax Autos among others. And the bone of contention has not only been wage based as used to be the norm earlier.

"The situation has become more complex. We find that some overseas companies that have entered India are reluctant to follow labour laws of the land. Apart from lobbying for flexible employment, they try and prevent the forming of labour unions at their plants. Of course, there are also Indian companies using the same tactics," said a labour relations expert.

Agrees Mr Tapan Sen, Secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). "The problem is arising due to non-enforcement of labour laws by companies. And unfortunately, in some cases the administration is hand in glove with the corporates, as was the case at the Honda incident in Gurgaon. The Honda incident was a result of accumulated discontent among workers in that area," he said.

Labour experts point out that there is a rising and disturbing trend of corporates opposed to the formation of unions at their plants and granting them recognition, which is a violation of local labour laws.

In fact even at the latest incident at Honda, the management had not recognised the worker's union despite it being registered.

"The recent resolution though between the workers and the management of HMSI has signalled a de-facto recognition of the union. What was disturbing about this incident was that the Gurgaon administration had declined to register the HMSI union altogether in the beginning, and this was done only after our intervention," said Mr Gurudas Dasgupta, General-Secretary, All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).

Taking another case of corporate-administration collusion, Mr Dasgupta pointed out that the management of the local subsidiary of Daewoo Motors was allowed to quit the country without paying workers adequate compensation, leaving them in the lurch.

"The growing expression of discontent among workers should not only be looked at as a result of a conducive political atmosphere. Look at the economic environment as well. An economic boom should go hand in hand with a wage boom," said Mr Gautam Modi of the Centre for Worker's Management.

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