Appeal to Observe 4th and 5th April as All-India and International Day of Protest : Free the Maruti Workers !
To all the correspondents of the International Workers Committee,
To all working class and democratic organisations around the world,Dear friends and comrades,
We forward to you the following documents,
Fraternal greetings.On behalf of the International Workers Committee (IWC),
Nambiath VASUDEVAN,
Daniel GLUCKSTEIN.
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Trade union call for countrywide solidarity programme in support of victimised Maruti workers
The central Trade Unions have expressed deep anguish life sentence to 13 workers and of 5 years jail to another four workers of Maruti Suzuki in connection with the violence plotted by the management in the Manesar plant of Maruti in 2012. In the same judgements, 117 workers were acquitted honourably and 14 workers let off with sentence to the period they were in Jail.
The violence in 2012 in which a general manager of the factory was killed was the handiwork of hired musclemen of Maruti Suzuki management meant to create the ground for crushing the unions. Despite no way being responsible for the incident, the workers have been convicted on the basis of concocted evidence manufactured by the state administration, police and employer nexus in a shameless abuse of power. More than 546 regular and 2000 contract workers were thrown out of their jobs and 148 workers were sent to jail for up to four and half years.
However, the heinous design of the Haryana state administration-capitalist league to crush the trade union movement in the Gurgaon industrial area could not be achieved fully. Over one lakh workers in the area boycotted lunch on 16th March in spontaneous expression of protest. The workers of Maruti and its ancillaries/ subsidiaries in Gurgaon/ Manesar went on total strike for one hour strike in the evening shift of 18th March. Workers’ unions in Gurgaon industrial belt had massive protest demonstration on 23rd March in solidarity with the victimised workers including filing of appeal against the conviction.
The central Trade Unions denounce the ugly game of the state and capital nexus with the same vehemence with which they denounced the violence of 2012 and congratulate the workers for their immediate and united response. The CTUs assert that the trade union movement cannot be cowed down with such nefarious acts by the government-employer nexus.
The CTUs express their solidarity with the struggle of the Maruti workers and the initiative of the industrial workers under the banner of Trade Union Council, Gurgaon in support of the Maruti workers. The CTUs call upon all the trade unions irrespective of affiliations and workers in general to come forward in solidarity with the Maruti workers struggle for justice including the legal battle. The CTUs also call upon all the trade unions in the country irrespective of affiliations to organise demonstrations in their workplaces or the industrial centres on5th April 2017 as a mark of solidarity with the Maruti workers struggling for justice and for trade union rights and demanding unconditional release of the Maruti workers and reinstatement of victimised workers.
INTUC AITUC HMS CITU AIUTUC TUCC SEWA AICCTU UTUC LPF
Appeal to Observe 4th/5th April as All-India & International Day of Protest: Free the Maruti Workers!
MARCH 29, 2017
Comrades,
The MSWU body members have been targeted because they have been the leadership of the struggle since 2011 against illegal contract worker system and for Trade Union rights and dignity of labour. It is a ‘class attack’ as in the words of Maruti CEO RC Bhargava. All workers know that this manifestly unjust verdict is to ‘teach a lesson’ to us by those in power that we should not fight for our rights and dignity on the shop-floor and beyond.
But against this repression, thousands of workers in this industrial belt and across India and world are protesting. On the evening of the Verdict on 18th May, 30000 workers in Gurgaon-Manesar did tool down strike against the injustice. The Maruti Suzuki Mazdoor Sangh (MSMS)–the joint platform of Maruti Suzuki factories–had given a call for Protest on the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh-Rajguru- Sukhdev on 23rd March in Manesar. Despite prohibitory orders of Section 144, thousands of workers from the industrial belts in Haryana and Rajasthan rallied in protest from factory after factory in Manesar. A letter from the Jailed workers was read out, and a call given to intensify the struggle for the release of the Jailed workers. It was also decided to give economic assistance to families of the Jailed workers.
On this 23rd March Protest program, we already appealed to all to observe 4th April as an all-India Day and International of Protest. Preparations for the same have already begun in various places. Meanwhile, recognized Central Trade Unions later issued a call to organize all-India Protest in solidarity with the Maruti Suzuki workers on 5th April. So, We appeal to all workers and pro-worker forces to observe 4th/5th April 2017 as all-India and International Days of Protest and show solidarity in whatever ways possible.
The struggling workers in the Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal-Neemrana industrial belt in the states of Haryana-Rajasthan are showing that they will not relent on their legitimate rights and strengthen their class unity against the capitalist onslaught. We have also received great courage, encouragement and thank the amazing show of Solidarity of workers with the struggle for Justice of Maruti workers. Since the last few days, there have been protests by lakhs of workers in this and other industrial belts and by various workers, student-youth, human rights and other democratic organizations in over 30 cities in the country, and deputations and solidarity positions and actions in over 21 countries. This is a long battle, and only the growing force of the movement and wider solidarity can take the struggle forward.
Provisional Working Committee,
Maruti Suzuki Workers Union
Contact: 7011865350 (Ramniwas), 9911258717 (Khusiram) on behalf of the PWC, MSWU.