Shekhar alleges that software firms are adopting unfair means to cope with the economic downturn by increasing working hours, and even forcing workers to resign. “If employees give in and sign up for peaceful terms, they will be allowed to leave on the back of a resignation; or else they are terminated and their names put up on the National Skills Registry — a black mark for any future employment,” claims Shekhar. He said sexual harassment in the work place was another problem his union had pledged to pursue. The issue was highlighted when a Nokia employee allegedly committed suicide following sexual harassment by a manager. “This is a violation of the Supreme Court-advised ‘Visakha guidelines’ that Nokia did not have a committee to probe such cases. The guidelines require all firm to set up a five-member body with at least three women on board to prevent such incidences.”

However, Raju Bhatnagar, vice-president of the IT industry’s apex body, Nasscom, doesn’t think unionisation posed much of a threat or that it was necessary at all. “They (UNITES) have a membership of about 18,000 people which is a minuscule percentage of the total 2.2 million employees in the IT industry,” he says.

From the traditional party-controlled unions in the core, manufacturing sectors had an ideological agenda. But the new forms of unions are now more often issue-based, sometimes led by NGOs. For instance, in Tirupur, a major export centre for knitwear garments, unions have moved from organising workers in the workplaces to working with them in their neighbourhoods. “The unions work with the workers to claim basic amenities and benefits from social welfare schemes through better negotiation with the government authorities. Through this, they have been able to enroll new members, even among women workers,” says M. Vijaybhaskar, a professor in Madras Institute of Development Studies, who has researched new trends in unionisation.

Public Sector Imbroglio
But unlike the private corporate sector, employees in the public sector are more organised. And their unions, built up assiduously in the Nehruvian period, still have teeth.

In recent months, the bone of contention has been the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, submitted to the government on 24 March. After the commission’s report, the Justice Rao Committee had proposed an average 30 per cent hike in basic pay plus dearness allowance, effective 31 January 2007, for the officer-level employees of PSUs.

Failure on the part of the management to adhere to these recommendations sparked the recent MTNL strike on 19 and 20 May. R.S.P. Sinha, chairman and managing director of MTNL, said meeting the 30 per cent fitment demand of the employees was not “feasible” as the organisation’s salary bill had already gone up from Rs 1,000 crore in 2003 to Rs 2,200 crore in 2009. Members of the officers’ association that went on strike, however, say the CMD refused to hold talks with them, and instead announced a unilateral, paltry wage rise of 5 per cent. The strike was withdrawn after two days following MTNL withdrawing its “wage sop”.

Similarly, workers of all the nine units of defence PSU Bharat Electronics also called a strike on 28 May, demanding a wage increase in line with that given to officers. Steel units and the unions of Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) are also in the process of launching similar agitations.

VIOLENT STEPS: In September 2008, L.K. Chaudhury, the CEO of Italian company Graziano in Noida was killed in an attack by employees who were dismissed by the company

What Lies Ahead?
Agreeing that industrial agitation has increased in recent months, Amit Mitra, secretary general of Ficci and director-general of the All India Organisation of Employers (AIOE), says though the number of units facing strikes and agitations are fewer, the number of mandays lost is substantial. “Industrial strife has increased mainly due to strikes in PSUs which are large employers across sectors. Fewer PSUs are involved, but the number of workers involved and mandays lost is significantly higher compared with the earlier period,” says Mitra (see ‘No Comfort’ on page 32).

With technological progress in manufacturing and skill sets becoming more important, the cost of disruption in production has also become costlier. Mitra claims a strike for one day in the banking industry causes a loss of Rs 1,000 crore. “During the 1960s and 1970s, the strikes were in core industries employing unskilled or semi-skilled workers. The kind of militancy we are seeing today is different, started as they are by white-collar, educated employees. The cost burden is, therefore, higher since educated workers are typically more productive and better paid.”

In the case of the 14-day strike at M&M’s Nashik unit that manufactures the Xylo, Bolero and several other car brands, the workers union president Dhatrak estimated the loss at Rs 350 crore. This was denied by a company spokesperson who said it was difficult to put a figure to the loss due to work stoppages.

If the government and unions fail to provide a structured outlet for resolving disputes, more desperate and violent alternatives will crop up.

Taking a leaf out of the book of the Epcos workers that used suicide as a threat to register their demands, in April a group of 40-50 dismissed contract workers in Nashik chained themselves on the terrace of Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, the municipal corporation building. They threatened to immolate themselves if they were not provided employment. They also hung huge banners highlighting their cause. They were dissuaded by police authorities and local politicians from carrying out their threat, but there is no guarantee others will not take to similar or even more violent means.

With inputs from Dhanya Krishnakumar, Lalitha Sridhar, Noemie Bisserbe and Shalini Sharma

gurbir dot singh at abp dot in

(Businessworld Issue Dates 9-15 June 2009)