Denso worker still locked out

In its crusade to make Gurgaon the Mecca of crony capitalism the anti-worker Haryana
government has crushed the Denso workers union movement by denying them the right
to form union. This is a textbook case of the government colluding with the company
managements. Citing the reason of hyper-technicality the Registrar of Labour,
Chandigarh has rejected the application of Denso worker union for registration. Denso
Haryana Pvt. Ltd produces fuel pumps and MPFI-systems for Suzuki and Toyota and the
plant is located in Manesar, Gurgaon. The company has locked down its gates for its
workers without any notice. The more than 200 odd workers have been sitting outside the
factory gates since the morning of 17 February. Denso is not an isolated as the Haryana
Government has, on this recently discovered ground, rejected union registration attempts
of various other unions including the AG Industry union. Earlier the unions were
registered despite having the same formation process.

For collective bargaining with the company management the Denso workers had decided
to form a union and had approached AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress) Gurgaon
in August for support and guidance .They had then applied to the Registrar of Trade
Unions for registration in the first week of December. The need for a union was
recognised as the company was hiring and firing workers with impunity In the guise of
recession The company would take in workers as trainess and after one year as trainess
they were kept in probabtion and after that only 50 percent was taken in as employed and
the rest thrown out. The management had not even allowed the coming up of a sham
pocket union. .An arrogant management then unleashed vendetta against its workers with
religious fervour and on 17 February, 2010 suspended 36 of its workers. The
management had its plan of action ready by the evening of 16 February itself but the
management decided to wait and hand out the suspension letters on the morning of 17
February so that those who were handed the suspension letters had already finished that
day’s work. One female worker, Aparna (name changed), described what happened: “I
was picked up from my home by the factory pick-up vehicle at 5:30 am and then was
handed the suspension letter at the factory gates. I wasn’t even allowed to enter and was
not sure what to do as I was standing in the street and at the factory gate there are no
means of communication to go anywhere.” Leaving workers stranded in the middle of
nowhere clearly shows the vengeful attitude of the management. In addition, none of the
workers have been charge sheeted, which is a normal condition for suspension. Others
were asked to sign an undertaking declaring that they would not take part in any union
activities. Another worker, Rahul (name changed), complained that “promotions were
only given to the pets of management while for others, even five years of devoted service
was not enough to justify a promotion. Female workers were denied promotions on
account of pregnancy”. Comrade Gurudas Dasgupta (General Secretary , AITUC ) has,
on 18 February written a request to the Chief Minister B.S. Hooda to intervene .
meanwhile the company was carrying out production by recruiting unskilled workers
who are kept inside the factory and made to work on jobs that require specialised skills.
 AG Industries lockout
Similar, though rather more vitriolic, were the measures taken by the management of
the AG Industries, which is situated just a few hundred meters from the Denso
factory. The company makes plastic parts for Honda.
Here 200 permanent workers were badly beaten on February 20, 2010 by the police
and hired bouncers of the company management .They had gone to talk with the
management on the issue of suspension of 27 of their colleagues, who were
suspended on February 9 for the unforgivable crime of taking part in the unionisation
process. Of the 200 beaten around 30-40 workers had serious injuries and some had
to be even hospitalised .One worker, Mahipal Yadav, said “the factory gates were
closed, we were trapped and surrounded and attacked brutally by the police and hired
bouncers. When we managed to escape we were chased on the road. We have been
replaced by workers hired through contractors.” Since then, a strong contingent of
police is present in the factory round the clock. One casual worker reported that he
was badly beaten by the management when he complained to them that he was paid
for only 22 days, while he had worked for 27 days. An FIR was lodged against the
workers on the February 21 and one worker Karan Singh was even arrested from the
hospital itself. AG Industries workers had applied for the registration of their Union
way back in August itself. However the condition at AG Industries was normal after
an assurance was given by the management to take back the suspended workers on 26
February,2010 .The workers are back to work.

The management is currently monitoring the activities of workers locked out of the
factory through a cameraman.
On 24 February, 2010 over 5000 workers belonging to all the major unions took out a
solidarity rally for the workers of Denso and AG Industries (See Box) . ). The district
administration has imposed Section 144 in the area but had allowed the workers to hold
rally at either the Leisure Valley Park, Sector 29 or the HUDA Park, Sector 5.But the
workers assembled outside the Kamla Nehru Park and the gathering was addressed by
various union leaders. The procession was led to the Divisional Commissioner’s Office
and submitted a memorandum. But on 25 February police arrested two AITUC office
bearers Comrade Anil (General Secretary of AITUC Gurgaon) and Comrade Prabhakar
(Haryana AITUC Vice-President). In protest the workers of 6 factories (including
Rico ,Microtek, Denso ,etc) struck work on 26 February ,2010 but they returned to work
after an assurance was given by the Chief Minister that the union leaders will be
released . Though Comrade Prabhakar was released immediately Comrade Anil is still
kept under arrest despite the assurance from the CM and has been booked under Section
302 of IPC in relation to the murder of a Rico worker Anil Yadav which happened last
year when the company goons attacked the workers ..

A talk has been scheduled between the workers and the management on the evening of
March 10 to resole the issue while earlier the management has also offered to take back
some of the suspended workers. The agitation by the workers has been completely
peaceful. The workers are highly skilled. and have made it possible for the company to
win many production related awards and recognitions.Most of the workers have ITI
diplomas and some have even completed their MSc Degrees..There are a around 400
workers with 150 female workers.and some have been in the service of the company for
over 10 years .The workers have come from the entire northern part of the country some
coming from as far as Bihar, Rajasthan

Denso Corporation is a Japanese company and has its headquarters in Kariya, Aichi
Prefecture, Japan and is member of Toyota group of companies . in 2009 Desno ranked 271 in
the Fortune 500 and had a revenue of US$ 31,282 million.