We document this press release sent to us by comrades from Delhi on the current mobilisation of former Maruti Suzuki car workers. It is wonderful to see that so many of them are gathering together again, more than a decade after the severe repression of their struggle.
Back then, the state had to quell one of the most radical automobile workers struggles since perhaps the 1980s in South Korea. We feel privileged to have been able to meet many of them at the time and to write down impressions of their struggle. Now it seems the right time to recapitulate the milestones of the dispute – for a visual impression you can watch this documentary.
In June 2011, more than 3,000 young workers engaged in a wildcat sit-down strike in the world’s second biggest car factory.
In October 2011, the same workers occupied the factory and supplying plants for several days in response to a management attempt to divide permanent from temporary workers.
In July 2022, hundreds of workers attacked management personnel and factory buildings in response to management provocations. Maruti sacked over 500 workers, 147 workers were jailed and a dozen of them sentenced to life sentences for murder.
But the struggle continues.
More than three thousand non-permanent (contract, trainee, apprentice, TW, CW, MST etc) workers who have worked and working in Maruti Suzuki plants in Gurgaon-Manesar congregate in Gurgaon to demand permanent jobs, equal pay, salary increase and other demands
5th January 2025: In a significant move, more than three thousand erstwhile workers of Maruti Suzuki gathered for a mass meeting near Krishna Chowk in Gurgaon on Sunday, January 5th, 2025 in the founding general meeting of the Maruti Suzuki Asthayi Mazdoor Sangh. Many had travelled overnight to reach the venue from Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Orissa and other states. The workers have all served in various temporary capacities at the three plants of the automobile manufacturer in Gurgaon-Manesar. A charter of demand was prepared, adopted and signed in the meeting today. The workers also issued a call to gather in an even greater number at the Gurgaon DC office on January 10th to submit the Charter of Demands and make their presence felt before the labour department and the company management. The general meeting also elected a committee of representatives to coordinate its further activities.
Presently Maruti Suzuki employees 36,000 workers across its four plants, out of which a mere 17% are permanent and the rest are divided into various categories which include Temporary Workers 1 and 2, Casual Workers, Apprentices, Contract Workers and Student Trainees. The entire production of the plants are dependent on this temporary workforce, whereas the role of permanent workers has been limited to supervisory roles at best. There exists a huge pay gap between permanent and temporary workers, with permanent employees drawing an average salary of 1,30,000 while temporary workers draw salaries between 12,000 to 30,000. Temporary workers are recruited for a mere seven months at a time. Student trainees form another significant category of the workforce who are engaged in full production in the name of apprenticeship and ITI education, only to leave the plant after two-three years with a certificate that has no currency in the labour market.
The charter prepared by the workers demands permanent employment for all workers engaged in a permanent nature of work. The workers have demanded the creation of 30,000 permanent posts in the existing three plants. They have also demanded that the recruitment to all these posts including those in the upcoming plant in Kharkhoda, Sonipat should be held primarily from among those who have previously worked in any Maruti plant as temporary workers. In the meantime all temporary workers must be given a 40% pay hike and a ‘clearance amount’ equal to the difference in the salaries of temporary and permanent workers for every month of service in the company. With regard to the sham training process being conducted by the company, workers demanded that the government intervene to ensure that student trainees being recruited by the company are actually allowed to up-skill themselves and not be engaged as workers in the main production process.
The meeting was organised in the wake of a demand notice submitted by the Maruti Suzuki Struggle Committee on behalf of various categories of temporary workers presently working in the four plants. The meeting also received active support and assistance from Maruti workers terminated from the company in 2012. These workers have been agitating to be reinstated with back wages for their unfair dismissal and sitting in IMT Manesar in an indefinite sit-in since September this year.
