Maruti Strike and increasing Workers Unrest...

The core issue in the strike that is on at Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car manufacturer, is the difference in wages given to the permanent workers vis-a-vis the temporary or casual workers. Employing temporary workers is an industry wide phenomenon and not restricted to Maruti Suzuki or the Auto Sector alone. In theory employing temporary workers helps you manage the peak and lean manufacturing cycles by optimising fixed costs on Wages.

However, the problem arises when the Corporates use this tool to maximise profits by employing these casual workers year around and do not give them pay parity or benefits which a permanent worker would have been entitled to.

This allows Worker Unions and trouble mongers to exploit the underlying resentment amongst the casual workers and create problems leading to strikes. If we see logically, then a temporary worker should get more wages than a permanent worker, since he is only employed for a part of the year and there is no guarantee of prolonged employment. This is the case in the Service sector and in daily life as well. However the manufacturing sector does not adhere to this logical thinking.

With rising inflation leading to increasing cost of living, combined with aspirations of the teeming workforce, the practices employed by the manufacturing sector regarding casual labour, unless changed, will lead to more such agitations. Unless the industry moves towards ending this exploitation in pursuit of unrealistic profits, the strike at Maruti may not be the last.

It is high time that the Industry chambers and leaders voluntarily adopted a code regarding the temporary workers or else, a time may come in the near future when the Government may have to step in with laws governing the employment of these workers.

If the policy makers are forced to step in, then at best, it will be a retrograde step. The industry then, should not cry foul and cast aspersions on the government that it is impeding the freedom of businesses. The solution lies in bringing parity in the working conditions, including wages, of the temporary and permanent workers. The sooner the industry does it the better it will be for all.