hmsi strike

Introduction

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India manufactures cars, motor bikes and scooters

We will talk about how and why the strike took place in 2005

The factory at the time was only 4 years old

The factory employees about 1900- 2500

Most of the workers are hired by subcontractors

Some only get day contracts The wages are poor A lot of the workers come from the

surrounding villages or other states They rely on the companies bus

service for transpot.

In 2004 HMSI is said to have sold 550,000 scooters in India. Scooters and other two-wheelers are still the most important means of motorised transport in India

In 2003-04 about 5,625,000 motorcycles were sold, compared to 850,000 cars.

About the Region

Gurgaon is situated in the state of Haryana, close to New Delhi

Implemented strict anti-union labour laws in order to attract further foreign investors.

In the last five years and comprises 90 factories, with

Cont….

About 70 percent of all motor-scooters produced in India are said to be produced in this region.

Japanese companies play an important role, given that Japan is India’s fourth biggest foreign investor and about three quarters of all Japanese companies in India are situated in Gurgaon.

Cont….

The (AITUC) All India Trade Union Congress

is the most important union in Gurgaon, it is supported by the CPI.

After Gorgon west Bengal is the second greatest amount of foreign investment of all Indian states

Cont….

such as Microsoft, IBM and Nokia have their headquarters in Gurgaon

The causes of conflict.

The conflict began in December 2004.

After a manager hit a worker, who was said to be engaged in organizing a union within the plant.

Another four workers were sacked after they expressed their harmony to their workmate.

"undisciplined behavior in the factory” was the official justification for dismissal of the workers.

The whole situation came to boiling point when the management sacked another 57 workers for the same reason.

Again almost all the workers were on strike in June 2005.

As a result, at the end of June 2005 the management replied by officially sacking 1000 workers.

Locking out the strikers was the result of strike.

A lockout is a temporary work stoppage or denial of employment during a labor dispute initiated by the management of a company.

Worker were not allowed to work during the whole period of disputes in the Honda company.

Due to the lock out , the disputes again came in the boiling point .

More then 1000 workers were injured because of the fight among police and strikers.

PICTURES FROM THE LOCKOUTS

LOSS FROM THE STRIKE

In total the company lost about 1.2 Billion Rupees due to the strike

Consequence of the strike

Dismissed workers were re-hired, under ‘good-conduct’ declaration promising to abstain from further demands and strikes.

Granted a wage increase for the year to some extent

AITUC demanded the release of all workers still in custody

Union recognition in the company.

Reaction to the Strike 

Huge public attention Caused diplomatic tension between India and

Japan. Prime Minister Singh meeting with representatives

of the left parties in a special session in order to consult over the strike and its consequences.

On the second day of rioting the chairman of the governing Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, came to Gurgaon for mediation talks.

Strike would endanger future investment by Japanese companies, said by Japanese Ambassador

Reaction to the strike

• Expressed concerns

• Negative effects on the production climate

• Hundreds of SMS messages were sent expressing solidarity with the workers.

• Several articles published

CONTD…

Announced a general strike against the changes in the labour law in September.

Reformed labour laws. Strikes would have to be announced three

weeks prior an approval of 75 percent of all workers in

the plant would be required as the legal precondition for the dispute.

For each day of wildcat strike the bosses want to make the workers pay a fine of eight days’ wages!