Attack on workers at Amtek Siccardi India Ltd.

(ASIL), Manesar on 6 June 2006

Overview on company structure According to the company website (www.amtek.com) the Amtek Group of Companies is a $650 million global auto component company with 25 manufacturing facilities in Asia, US and Europe. It is the largest flywheel ring gear manufacturer in the world. It is a tier 1 supplier to major auto makers around the world. The company started manufacturing in Sohna, India in 1987. Forging operations in Gurgaon started in 1993. In 1997 a joint-venture with the Japanese company Benda Kogyo Limited was forged. Since then Amtek bought or merged with various medium-sized (European) automobile suppliers, starting in 1999 with the collaboration with Ateliers de Siccardi of France. In 2006 Amtek has about a dozen plants in the Gurgaon area and the international group consist of, amongst others: Amtek Gears Inc., located in Bay City, Michigan (USA); Amtek Aluminium Castings UK Ltd., GWK Amtek Ltd. (UK), Lloyds (Brierley Hill) Ltd. (UK), Midwest Mfg. Co. (US), Sigmacast Iron Ltd. (UK), Zelter Gmbh. (Hennef, Germany). Amtek supplies parts to many automobile companies, for example: Ashok Leyland Limited, Aston Martin, Bajaj Auto Limited, BMW, CNH Global, Eicher Motors Ltd., Escorts, Fiat India, Ford, General Motors, Hero Honda, Hindustan Motors, Honda Scooters, Hyundai, Jaguar, John Deere, JCB, Kawasaki, Land Rover, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, MG Rover, Piaggio, Saab, Scania, Tata Motors, Toyota, and Yamaha Motors India. Chronology of the Dispute In hindsight it is difficult to trace the reasons for why on the 6th of June 2006 about 20 permanent workers and CITU union members got beaten up by paid goons or, as other sources say, by workers hired through contractors on the behalf of the management. Though the underlying reason for the attack is a longer dispute between the management of Amtek and the CITU union representatives, some elements of the dispute might have been on a rather personal level (some union members got dismissed for allegedly not paying their company phone bill, etc.). Central to the incident is the fact that Amtek, a huge international automobile company, uses this kind of repression in order to enforce discipline at the workplace. Some characteristics of the dispute question certain union forms of struggle: the union having to get engaged in struggles (and risking workers being beaten up) in order to defend or re-instate their official leaders; the complete division if not hostility between permanent workers and workers hired through contractors; the use of the media in order to create pictures of martyrs. We give a short chronology of the incident. Events leading up to June 6th: On 14 April 2006, two workers of ASIL had a scuffle outside ASIL premises on the road near Denso (another auto part supplier) regarding a private matter of money loaned to some workers who worked as casuals at ASIL. This happened as they were coming to duty. The casual workers went to the company and reported this incident. Thereafter, ASIL gave a verbal notice to two workers, transferring them from the Manesar unit to an Amtek unit in Gurgaon. Not having received a written notice, both workers showed up for work at the Manesar unit and were not allowed to enter the gates. According to the workers the transfer was legally incorrect, amongst other reasons because no written notice was given. When both workers were not allowed to enter the gates of ASIL at Manesar, the ASIL union (CITU affiliated) protested the matter. Since 24 April 2006, 20 of the permanent workers were asked by the management to sit in the conference room/reception area and not allowed to enter the factory. They went to the Labour Office (LO) and to the management four times but management refused to compromise. On 18 May 2006 there was a meeting with the Deputy Labour Commissioner (DLC) and an agreement was reached. However, when the workers reported to work the next day on 19 May 2006 they were still not allowed to go in. So the workers went back to the DLC, who sent them to the LO, but still there was no agreement. On 5 June 2006 there was another meeting with the DLC with management and union representatives where Mr. Vikal, Personnel Manager, told the DLC and workers that management would broker an agreement the next day and asked the workers to meet them at 5:30 pm in the conference room/reception area. The incident on June 6th: When the workers showed up for the meeting on the 6th of June 2006, the gates of the factory were locked and two vehicles filled with goons were allowed to enter the factory premises; these goons encircled the ASIL workers and finally beat them up using saria and crank shafts that are manufactured at the plant itself. About 22 workers had to be sent to hospital. One unionised worker reports in a conversation on the 7th of June 2006 that four local (Gurgaon) workers who got hurt had previously been targeted by management. Management has even asked the union to expel him as a member, so that management could then dismiss him from work.

In the local newspapers the management describes the incident from their point of view: Said Baljeet Singh, factory manager at Amtek, About 20 men went on strike after two of their colleagues were transferred from Manesar to Gurgaon. On Tuesday, the 6th of June, they entered the plant and started breaking things. They also hit our chief general manager on the head. Later, they managed to flee. The management lodged a complaint against 12 workers on charges of beating the employees, while no complaint has been lodged by the workers against the management. The retelling of some unionists who have not been involved in the dispute puts both pictures together. They assume that negotiations between the CITU unionists and the Amtek management were going on, that then there was some physical fight, and that the management called in contract workers to beat up these permanent workers since goons could not be arranged at such short notice. Proof of this is (a) the so called goons came without weapons and used make-shift weapons such as saria and crankshafts, (b) there was ongoing tension between permanent and contract workers. They say now the permanent workers are afraid to go back to work and are refusing to return until a settlement is reached and they feel protected. The strategy to charge workers with assault on policemen or managers after they have been beaten up by the latter is common practice in current disputes. In the subsequent court cases the charges against the workers are used in order to blackmail them to drop their charges against the police or managers. In order to react against the power of the law, unions and other workers organisations often try to use the media and the images of beaten up workers in order to win over public opinion. This is how the scene looked in Gurgaon Hospital during the night of June 6th:several known union leaders who had just arrived at the hospital and who knew little to nothing about the history of the dispute standing next to the beds of the beaten up workers, holding speeches surrounded by cameras and journalists. Since 6 June incident: On 10 June 1,000 workers gathered at KN Park in Gurgaon and marched to the DCs office and submitted a memorandum and via the DC to CM Hooda (Central Minister of Haryana). On Monday June 19th unions planned to take out a big rally in IMT Manesar that culminated in front of the ASIL factory gates.