7 workers of ASTI Electronics on hunger strike for 14 days. Support their struggle to end the contract labour system
The 310 terminated contract workers including about 250
women workers of the ASTI
electronics are protesting at the factory gate since 1st November
2014 for reinstatement. They were terminated after contract and permanent
workers successfully united themselves and went on a strike and during the
strike they successfully registered their trade union. The termination of
contract workers was targeted to break the unity between contract and permanent
workers and tame the union by effectively weakening it. The struggling contract
workers have not received any wages since October 2014 and facing various kinds
of threats, harassment and repression, but they are continuing their struggle
and not ready to compromise.
Sit-in-protest at the factory gate is continuing since 3rd November
2014. The workers and the unions from various factories in the region are
extending their support to ASTI
workers struggle and regularly participating in demonstrations and gate
meetings. The hostile attitude of the management compelled the workers to start
an indefinite hunger strike. Seven workers started fast-unto-death since 25th November
2014. Only after the conditions of workers at hunger strike started
deteriorating, the labour department came in to action and tripartite
negotiations started.
First they offered a retrenchment compensation for two
months but workers rejected and demanded reinstatement. Recently it was vaguely
and verbally offered that the workers of PCB department may be reinstated, but
workers demanded to make an agreement in writing and take back all workers and
not of only one department. It also seems that the offers are part of a game to
divide and rule. By threat of termination, the management had successfully
compelled the permanent workers to not come in support of contract workers. Now
the recent offer is targeted to create a divide between contract workers.
The workers are successfully fighting against such attempts
of divide and rule. Lastly, the permanent workers dared to take the risk of
losing job and openly came in support of the struggles of contract workers.
However, with lengthening of the struggle the problems are increasing and the
conditions of workers on hunger strike are getting serious. Out of seven on hunger strike, one male and
one female worker- Sanju and Rashika were hospitalized after their
conditions became serious. The conditions of other five workers on hunger
strike including four female and one male workers- Swagatika, Bhavna, Rinku,
Honey and Krishna -are also getting serious
day by day. Therefore, it is urgently needed to mobilize the support for ASTI electronics workers
struggle and compel the labour department and the management to take quick
action and reinstate all contract workers as regular workers.
It is also worth highlighting that the ASTI
workers struggle is not only important for ASTI
workers, it is relevant for the whole labour movement in India .
Following aspects of the movement reveal its general significance:
a) Right from 2005 there
is a wave of workers’ struggles against repression of workers when they
attempted to form trade union and demanded right to collective bargaining. In
all these struggles, in varying degrees the permanent and contract workers were
united and in general and particularly in Maruti Suzuki workers struggle the
demand for end of contract labour system was raised strongly. ASTI workers struggle is taking this struggle
to culmination by demanding regularization of all contract workers. It is in
this regards the victory of ASTI workers will be
a victory of labour movement in India
in its struggle to end the contract labour system
b) Nowadays the
conditions in factories are such that it is very difficult for the contract
workers to organize themselves. ASTI
workers struggle is one of such brave and successful attempts of organizing and
leading a prolonged struggle for regularization of contract workers. The
success of their struggle will be an inspiration for contract workers all over India
c) In factory sector the
number of women workers is increasing, but women are least represented in the
leadership of the labour movement. Generally it is considered that the women
workers do not easily come forward for struggles for rights. Women workers in ASTI dared to break this
myth. ASTI
workers struggle is one of struggles where women are taking the leadership of
the movement. This has a larger relevance for the labour movement of India in general
The above relevance of the movement makes us duty bound to
support and help the ASI workers struggle by all possible means. The demands of
the workers are simple and justified under the law of the land: a) Termination
of workers is illegal and therefore reinstate all workers, and b) In perennial
nature of works contract workers cannot be engaged, therefore regularize all
contract workers.
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An appeal by ASTI Theka Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti,
Manesar, Gurgaon
3rd December 2014
We the contract workers of ASTI Electronics factory at IMT
Manesar, Gurgaon are on Dharna from 3rd November and 7 of us
continue fast-unto-death from 25th November with our just
demands against contractualisation, illegal lay off, and exploitation.
We had a tripartite meeting with the management and labour
department day before and yesterday 2nd December. The
management of
Anti-social elements instigated by the management have
been continuing to harass us, to inform which, a team of workers also met the
Police Commissioner Gurgaon yesterday, but no concrete steps have been taken
by the police other than forming barricades from the management’s side in
front of the factory.
The health of 5 women and 2 male workers on fast-unto-death
from 25th November is deteriorating, and ketone body has been
found in the blood samples. But the Gurgaon administration has not even sent
a single doctor or any medical assistance to the dharna site till date. A
team of workers from ASTI Theka Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti also met the DC
(Deputy Commissioner) Gurgaon to tell the administration to remind them of
their responsibility but to no heed. We shall go to meet the DC Gurgaon
again tomorrow 4th December at 11am and we appeal
to pro-worker individuals and forces to come in solidarity in the meeting
with the DC Gurgaon.
We are enthused to have received solidarity from workers
in industrial belt. But at present, we are continuing with our struggle in
the face of severe odds of anti-worker management-administration-police
nexus. We are faced with a severe financial crisis which is becoming a hurdle
in sustaining our struggle. We appeal to all pro-worker forces and
individuals to come to our dharna site and also to contribute financially to
our struggle.
Please send in your contributions to:
Raghuvendra Pratap
State Bank of Sector 10A, Gurgaon Branch, Account No. 34189662682 CIF No. 87673860011
Contact for further details: Shivani and Raghuvendra
(ASTI
Theka Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti):
09555671885; 9654553194, 9971735073
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The Background of the struggle
ASTI Electronics India Ltd is a subsidiary of Asti Corp, Japan which
produces wiring harness, switches, controllers, and other automotive and
electronics parts. It supplies to auto companies like Suzuki Motorcycles,
Maruti Suzuki, Yamaha Motors, Omron Automotive etc. It has branches in Japan , China ,
Vietnam and India . There
are 150 permanent workers and 310 contract workers in its harnessing unit at
Manesar, Gurgaon. There are two modes of production; one is manual and the
other is automatic. Production takes place in three shifts. The manual section
produces three thousand units per shift with 50 employees, of which only 17 are
permanent. The Automatic section produces 12000 units per shift employing 25
workers, of which only 3 are permanent. There are two layers of production
process used in this company; sub assembly line where each table is occupied by
one worker and later the processed material goes on the conveyor belt assembly
line. Most of the workers work as operators. Contract workers earn between 5000
and 7000 per month.
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Wire harnessing process (assembling wires on a board)
involves different stages that are completed in 3 shifts. Firstly wires are
cut using a machine. Huge chances of accidents are involved in this process
where there is a risk of cutting one’s finger. The wire is crimped i.e. the
wires are squeezed from their ends manually using a crimping machine to
obstruct air pockets, these air pockets cause corrosion of copper wire
leading to damage of machinery. Terminals are later attached to the ends. All
this takes place in the machine shop.
The most tedious part of this process
involves assembling of wires on a board. This process takes place on a
conveyor belt. The workers work in lines and must produce harnesses according
to designs provided to them. Interestingly here in Asti-Manesar, more women
workers are employed for this tedious process. Numbers of women workers
exceed the number of male workers in this final process.
Both mentally and
physically challenging, this final process takes place only during the
daytime shift A from 7 to 3:20. Many of them are made to work overtime. The
pressure of meeting targets has been increasing. Reducing toilet and tea
breaks and increasing the speed of conveyor belt gradually on an hourly basis
are some of the ways of increasing work pressure on the workers by the
management. During the summertime, cases of workers fainting have been
reported often. A pregnant woman had a miscarriage while working on the
conveyor belt. (Anshita and Arya (2014).
One Night in Manesar..; http://sanhati.com/articles/11947/)
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On 18th February 2014, contract and
permanent workers formed their unity and went on one day strike for
their demands. They successfully registered their trade union during the
strike. They demanded for wage settlement and regularization of contract
workers. The management had been on an offensive since then. While constantly
plotting to further the division between the permanent and the contract
workers. To harass the workers the speed of the assembling belt kept increasing
after the union formation. On 1st November 2014, without any
prior notice the management terminated all contract workers.
On 3rd November, all 310 terminated contract
workers including 250 female workers started sit-in-protest at factory gate. On
13th November, workers from various factories held a rally in
Manesar from Munjal Kiriu to ASTI factory gate
against suspension of workers in Munjal Kiriu, and termination of contract
workers in ASTI .
On 17th Nov, workers of ASTI
were joined by workers from other factories in a spirited rally in the Manesar
industrial area. On 19th November a Joint demonstration of Munjal Kiriu
workers (struggling for last two months) and ASTI Electronics workers was
organized at ASTI
factory gate. Workers and Union members from Maruti Suzuki, Hi-Lex, Endurance,
Autofit and some other organizations like Workers Solidarity Centre
Gurgaon & Inqlabi Mazdoor Kendra also participated.
On 25th of November, Seven ASTI workers including 5
women workers launched into an indefinite hunger strike, after two rounds
of negotiations failed, where the company just offered them two months’ salary.
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Most of the women workers are migrants from
On asking her why she was doing this,
she said that in a couple of years, say in one or two, she would be married
off, and she really wants to remember that she had done something radical
like this. Well, maybe she didn’t remember then that there are others amidst
her, who have left behind their kids and husbands and are participating in
the strike.
(Anshita and Arya (2014). One Night in Manesar
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November 29 a demonstration was organized at ASTI gate. District administration
deployed over 1000 policemen to stop the demonstration, however, huge
participation of workers made the demonstration successful. Workers and unions
from various factories including Maruti Suzuki, Endurance, Satyam Auto, Munjal
Kiriu, Autofit, Rico auto, Baxter, and other organizations like CITU Gurgaon,
Workers Solidarity Centre Gurgaon (WSC), Inqlabi Mazdoor Kendra (IMK), and
Krantikari Naujawan Sabha (KNS) etc participated in the demonstration.
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The solidarity is pouring in from workers and other unions
in the industrial belt. Various independent unions from nearby factories have
been coming in solidarity, contributing financially, carrying out collections
at the factory gates to support the
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In the first week of December the workers won another
victory in terms that defying all threats of losing jobs, the permanent workers
openly came forward in support of contract workers struggle. Rather than going
on strike, they continued working but did not eat for one day in solidarity of
workers on hunger strike, and now they are working in the factory with black
bands around their foreheads as a form of protest against the management
The conditions of workers on hunger strike is getting
serious day by day and out of fear that the anger of workers in the whole
region may burst any day, finally the labour department compelled the
management for tripartite negotiation. A tripartite meeting was called today
and was still going on at the time of writing of this draft.
Regards
Surendra Pratap
Centre for Workers Education, NewDelhi
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