Strike ends in Belsonika with reinstatement of 10 suspended workers

belsonika

The strike of the workers, which was staged outside the Belsonica Company in Manesar for the last one month, concluded with an agreement on June 1.

On May 30, all the workers launched a strike, the workers who were in the company laid down their tools, while the suspended workers and union delegations staged a hunger strike outside.

On the call of hunger strike and hunger strike by the union, the relatives of the workers also came to participate in the dharna. After two days of sustained negotiations, the management finally consented to reinstate the 10 suspended workers; however, it relented in re instating the three worker leaders led by the union.

The suspended and dismissed Belsonica workers had been staging a relay hunger strike outside the factory in Haryana’s Manesar protesting against retrenchment and suspension of workers for the previous 28 days. The workers displayed unflinching resilience.

In retaliation, the management deployed a heavy police force to monitor developments and curtail the intensity of the protest.

From 9.00 am to 4.00 am, on May 30th,seven hours of talks were held between the union and the management under the mediation of the Assistant Labour Commissioner and Labour Inspector, which were at first unsuccessful., but later fruitful.

The agreement made it clear that all representatives of the union would be involved in the negotiations between the union and the management.

According to the agreement, the plant was closed due to the strike from May 30; the management will not take any retaliatory action against it.

Ten workers were suspended on March 30, 2023.

Of these, three workers will be taken back on June 2, 2023 with pending enquiry. After this, after 7 days three workers will be taken back with pending inquiry and after 7 days the remaining four workers will be taken back to the company on basis of pending inquiry.

The pending inquiry of all these 10 workers will be finished soon and the report will be given to the inquiry committee.

It has also been agreed between both the parties that three suspended union officials Mahendra Kapoor (President), Ajit Singh (General Secretary) and Sunil Kumar (Organization Secretary) will not be re instated in the company now but a decision will be taken promptly on basis of results of their inquiry report.

It was also decided that all the union office bearers would play an active role in the negotiation.

The suspended and dismissed Belsonica workers had been staging a relay hunger strike outside the factory in Haryana’s Manesar protesting against retrenchment and suspension of workers for the previous 28 days. The workers said they would unflinchingly continue the strike unless reinstated.

In retaliation, the management deployed a heavy police force to monitor developments and curtail the intensity of the protest.

From 9.00 am to 4.00 am, seven hours of talks were held between the union and the management under the mediation of the Assistant Labour Commissioner and Labour Inspector, which were unsuccessful.

Talks opened again on Wednesday, 31 May 2023 at 1.30 p.m.

Victimisation of the Families

The families of the workers who were dismissed and suspended were greatly hindered due to the unscrupulous   retrenchment being done by the Belsonica management, facing difficulties in paying their house rent, loan installments, children’s school fees, medical expenses etc. Reena, whose husband worked in Belsonica Company and is currently facing suspension, stated that another worker, had her children suspended from her school for not being able to pay fees.

The families present at the protest site asserted that the company bore responsibility not only to the workers but also to their families, who have played an important role in the operating of the plant Retrenchment directly has given a mortal blow on women and families. This is why it is imperative for them to protest against the retrenchment, as it manifests, expression of their rights.

On Monday, when the families of the workers sitting on the hunger strike reached the protest site, they demanded to meet the company’s managing director and the company’s management and submitted their memorandum to them. Adamantly, the company’s management neither permitted the families inside the plant, nor even received them at the gate. The management was reluctant to accept memorandum of the families.

. For the last four weeks, the workers sitting on dharna and successive hunger strikes were not able to spend any time with their families and homes.

The blazing heat and periodic rains last week, tormented the workers at the site. The families of the workers present on the dharna were alarmed about the condition of the workers at the dharna site.

After being separated from their family members for 25 consecutive days, when the workers’ families came to support them in the dharna, they said that if the company was not ready to hold talks with the union soon, they would without hesitation join the workers. The women present at the dharna site on Monday determinedly said that they would not tolerate separation from the men of their families, and were compelled to participate in the dharna with their children.

Background

The company has a workforce of 126 long-contract workers, 400-odd six-monthly contractor workers and over 200 trainees of different categories compared to only 192 long-term contract workers in 2017. Denying contractual workers membership rights from trade unions is a predominant feature in Belsonika Company. This is an acute denial of majority of workers from the protection of labour laws and stripping them of the right to collective bargaining.

Between July 2021 and June 2022, the company issued show-cause notices to 29 permanent and four contractual workers, under the guise of verifying their documents.. All the workers who were issued notices had been working for a period of around eight years or more at Belsonica.Since December 2022 onwards, the company started retrenching workers on these grounds.

For the last 2 years, it has been a perpetual practice of the managements  to formulate a strategy to   retrench workers who contributed 10-15 years and contract workers serving for 8 years .30 permanent workers and 4 contract workers were laid down from jobs.This trend is also prominent amongst workers of factories in Gurgaon,Manesar, Bawal, Gharueda etc.

In, Bajaj and Sunbeam factories workers were given Voluntary Retirement Scheme. In Lumex factory 11 workers were suspended.

The management is investing every ounce of energy in breaking the organised strength of the working class by weakening and breaking the trade Unions.

Not only the Belsonica Management, but the entire Managements are engaged in breaking the backbone of the Belsonica Union. Belsonica Union is conducting its struggle establishing class unity.

For the last 3 decades, the activities of the trade unions have been so marginalised that when the working class is being given a mortal blow by the 4 extreme anti-labour codes, the trade unions are not in a position to offer any effective organised resistance.

The trade union consciousness is flowing at such low ebb that the union is unable to even undertake effective mobilisation of the workers within its factory.

The situation has aggravated so much that when retrenchment is sharpening to it’s optimum height, it is unable to take the slightest measures to confront it.

The functioning style of the trade union since a long time has obliterated Class angle of politics and ideology from the labourers, which created the marginalisation. .

Demarcating from this economist tendency, Belsonica Union strived to integrate revolutionary democratic class politics within the workers.

Praiseworthy that Belsonica Union Belsonica established a strong link with the struggle of workers, farmers, students, youth, women, exploited sections which giving a practical shape  to  class unity .

Harsh Thakor is freelance journalist who has covered mass movements around India. Acknowledges inputs from Shyambi r of Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra ,Newsclick, PUDR and Riddhi and Ajit Singh from Workers Unity.

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