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Spirited fight by S Dorairaj

Striking workers at Foxconn India in Sriperumbudur near Chennai take on the corporate giant, demanding better wages.

WORKERS at Foxconn-India in Sriperumbudur in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, have been on strike from September 24 demanding better wages. They also want the reinstatement of 24 suspended colleagues and the withdrawal of an eight-day wage cut slapped on some workers. That they have held out for so long is remarkable, not least because they are mostly young. Various trade unions and political parties have come out in support of their cause.

Aged between 19 and 25, many of the 1,800-odd regular and 3,000 contract workers and trainees have just completed Standard X or Standard XII. A considerable number of them are diploma holders and a few are graduates. Union sources say that their average salary is around Rs.4,500. Most have migrated from other districts during the past four or five years and are children of small peasants, farmhands, construction workers or daily wage labourers. Their employer, the Taiwan-based Foxconn, is a giant mobile phone component manufacturer.

Rallying under the banner of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), a large number of the workers have rejected the wage accord reached between the management of Foxconn India and the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), the trade union wing of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

According to A. Soundararajan, State general secretary of the CITU, most of the regular workers, including functionaries of the LPF union at Foxconn, have left the organisation and joined the trade union affiliated to the CITU.

How it started

Though the management turned a deaf ear to its pleas for recognition, the CITU-affiliated union went ahead and submitted a 30-point charter of demands on August 24. It demanded a minimum basic pay of Rs.10,000 with a 10 per cent annual increase; disbursement of Rs.1,000 as city compensatory allowance; Rs.100 as night shift allowance; Rs.25,000 as leave travel allowance; and Rs.2,000 as children's education allowance. It also asked for medical leave, insurance cover, a bonus adding up to three months' salary and a provision for housing loan up to Rs. 5 lakh.

The management responded by writing to the Assistant Commissioner of Labour saying that it was willing to negotiate with the union that represented the majority of the workers. “Kindly facilitate us to show their majority through proper election mode whereby the management can talk to appropriate forum,” it said. However, the government authorities concerned failed to act in this regard and no secret ballot was held to ascertain the strength of the unions. The Foxconn management, which had already initiated talks with the LPF, stayed away from the meeting called by the Assistant Labour Commissioner on September 2. This prompted the CITU union to serve a strike notice on September 7.

In the wee hours of September 22, workers owing allegiance to the CITU began a sit-in against the management for withholding recognition to their union and refusing to talk to its representatives. However, the Deputy Labour Commissioner persuaded the union that a negotiated settlement could be reached on the contentious issues, and the protest was withdrawn with immediate effect.

The very next day, the management declared an eight-day wage cut against those who participated in the sit-in. It also announced that a wage settlement would be signed with the LPF. The following day the workers resumed the sit-in, and the management responded by suspending 24 workers, CITU sources said. It described the sit-in as illegal and the workers' protest on the factory premises as “serious misconduct as per the standing orders of the company”.

“From September 25 to October 4, we were pleading with the Labour officers to come out with a consent advice that the management should revoke the suspension of the workers, the trade union should suspend the protest and the pending issues could be sorted out through talks. This suggestion was not acceptable to the management. Only against this backdrop, we had to intensify the protest,” Soundararajan said.

In a related development, the owner of a building who had agreed to give a portion of his space on rent to house the CITU union office in Sriperumbudur backtracked on October 6, owing to alleged intimidation by a group that warned him of “dire consequences”. The CITU wrote to the Chief Minister about it and sought his intervention to ensure safety for the union activists.

On October 9, along with Soundararajan and E. Muthukumar, Kancheepuram district unit secretary of the CITU, 220 workers were arrested under Sections 147 (rioting), 294 (b) (obscene act and songs), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They were lodged in the Vellore central prison.

While most of these remand prisoners were released on bail, Soundararajan, Muthukumar and 10 Foxconn workers were arrested in a new case on October 13. Shortly before they were taken to a court in Uthiramerur, they were all asked to stand in rows of two and handcuffed. Though the Director-General of Police and the Labour Minister have denied this, Soundararajan has written to the National Commission for Human Rights seeking action against those who were responsible for humiliating the trade union activists. He said handcuffing of remand prisoners was a clear violation of the directions of the Supreme Court and various other courts.

The CITU leaders and the Foxconn workers were released on conditional bail on October 22. During the time that the CITU leaders spent behind bars, a “long-term wage settlement” was reached between the management and the LPF union under the Section 18 (1) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, for three years.

According to the settlement, publicised by the management through a circular on October 12, the gross monthly salary for the first year ending in June 2011 has been fixed at Rs.7,830 for workers with two to three years of service, Rs.9,000 for workers with three to four years of service and Rs.9,300 for those having more than four years' service. In the next two years, the first category will be given an additional amount of Rs.465 and the remaining two categories would get Rs.500 more. Apart from this, a marriage gift of Rs.3,000, a marriage advance of Rs.25,000 and a festival advance of Rs.3,000 will be disbursed to the workers.

Workers' resolve

Neither the wage accord nor the management's appeal to the workers' parents to persuade their wards to return to work could break the workers' resolve to continue with the strike until their demands were met. While most workers from far-off places such as Tirunelveli, Tiruvarur and Theni have returned to their native villages, their colleagues residing in Kancheepuram district and neighbouring Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Tiruvallur districts assemble at Sriperumbudur every day and demonstrate near the tahsildar's office.

The Foxconn India workers' struggle for labour rights and better wages acquires significance in a State that ranks third in the country in terms of the number of SEZs (special economic zones) approved by the Government of India. So far formal approvals have been given for 69 SEZs, in-principle approvals have been accorded for 20, and 57 SEZs have been notified.

Over 400 hectares of land has been allotted for various SEZs to house 48 industrial units with an investment proposal of about Rs.30,000 crore, promising direct and indirect employment for 1.77 lakh persons. This was announced in the State Assembly in the last Budget session.

Support of political parties

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the All India Forward Bloc have criticised the State government for “not taking any positive step to resolve the labour issues” in Foxconn as well as the public sector Neyveli Lignite Corporation.

The Left parties and trade unions have sent out a clear message to the government that they will be forced to observe a State-wide bandh if the unrest escalates. Different forms of protests have been staged by the trade unions and the Left parties throughout the State. In Chennai, a massive demonstration was staged on October 21 in support of the Foxconn and NLC workers. Addressing the activists, leaders of the CPI(M), the CPI, the AIFB, the AIADMK and the MDMK criticised the DMK government's “pro-management policy and its attempt to prop up the LPF at the cost of the workers' interests”.

In a joint statement on October 13 , leaders of the INTUC, the AITUC, the CITU, the Anna Thozhirsanga Peravai and the AICCTU said MNCs such as Foxconn were not adhering to labour laws. Accusing the government of backing MNCs, they called for immediate steps to release the union activists and to arrange for a secret ballot in Foxconn.

State CPI(M) secretary G. Ramakrishnan said the State government's approach to labour disputes betrayed its keenness to please MNCs. Its stance on labour issues, including those in SEZs, revived memories of the repressive measures of the early 1970s when the State witnessed struggles on an unprecedented scale for labour and trade union rights, he said. He recalled that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had declared then that the government would crush the workers' agitations with an iron hand.

S.S. Thiagarajan, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit of the AITUC, said workers' rights could not be compromised under the guise of wooing foreign investments. “Unfortunately the labour laws of the country are not followed in the MNC units. There is a marked difference between the approach of the governments in Left-ruled States and other States on the issue,” he said

C.V.M.P. Ezhilarasan, president of the Foxconn India Thozhilalar Munnetra Sangam, denied that the government propped up the LPF union. He said it was the first union to be started in Foxconn India.

In a democratic country, workers were free to launch unions but it was the prerogative of the management to accord recognition. The LPF union had the backing of 600 regular workers and the majority workers had welcomed the wage settlement, he claimed.

The World Federation of Trade Unions has expressed solidarity with the striking workers. In a message on October 25, the WFTU secretariat said, “We unite our voice with the voice of the workers in Foxconn Factory in India who fight against exploitation, against capital and against anti-labour policies.”

Government stance

State Labour Minister Anbarasan also denied the charge that the government was promoting the LPF, particularly in the SEZs. The DMK government would always strive to protect workers' rights and welfare, he said. He claimed that the dispute in Foxconn India was “precipitated by a section of the workers owing allegiance to the CITU” who “damaged” company buses and machinery while the management was speaking to the LPF union on labour demands. He alleged that the CITU agitation was aimed at tarnishing the State government's image.

What the workers say

S. Deepa of Mangadu, who had completed four years of service, said the workers would not resume work until the suspended workers were reinstated. M. Kalaivani, daughter of a construction worker, complained that workers at Foxconn had to run from pillar to post to seek leave. “We have to get the signatures of six persons – the team leader, group leader, cell leader, manpower controller, superviser and manager – affixed on the leave application,” she said. B. Nirmala of Vayalur in Tiruvallur district alleged that some of her colleagues who participated in the sit-in were treated badly by the police while being evicted from the factory premises.

M. Muruganandam of Tirukkuvalai village in Nagapattinam district said safety measures were inadequate in the factory. He added that Rs.750 was deducted from his salary during his stay at the dormitory run by the management at Sunguvarchatram for male workers.

K. Kalaivani of Kancheepuram said medical facilities at the factory site were pathetic. A. Asim, one of the suspended workers, said as cheap labour was available in villages, the management brought them in buses even from places that were 80 km away from the factory site.