Exploitation of workers and Employees

Work rules in India

What are the minimum work rules in India for workers and employees in new factories lured in by our enthusiastic governments? There seems to be no rules followed by new and successful companies in emerging India as far as rules applicable to their works and employees.

1. To cut costs and boost profits companies are literally squeezing or milking their work force. Workers are at least protected by existing labour laws and their unions. But the plight of so called employees in the categories of supervisors, department heads, engineers, managers is very pathetic.

2. The so called employees are forced to work for about 14 hours a day, 6 days a week and many are forced to work even in Sundays without any provision of OVERTIME payments. In many companies these employees are continuously contacted on 24 x 7 mode without any consideration for their rest and time for families. In one instance a department head was suspended when the production line came to halt for about 2-3 minutes on a sunday night when that person was in his house.

3. In many of these factories workers are treated like machines without any consideration for their rest and time needed for their natural calls. In one Chennai MNC factory the workers are monitored with a target of such time not to exceed 20 minutes per 10 hour shift which includes their lunch time of 15 minutes.

4. The worst part is the treatment meted out to the managers/engineers. They are expected to work 14 hours a day. Their foreign managers take necessary rest during day time and call them for daily review at 6.30 pm and it usually takes 3 hours to complete the day's review and plan for the next day. And the engineers are expected to report next day without fail by 7 AM and those who come late by even a minute is insulted by flashing their name in electronic notice boards. The language used in the review meeting is so insulting many contemplate quitting. The words like idiots, bloody Indians, stupids, are common heaps that are showered on them.

5. And surprisingly there are no labour and employee unions in these industries which employ 1000s of workers and engineers. Where are the protectors of labours and employees - the so called lefts who seem to have left such activities from their agenda.

6. Another exploitation is in the form of Apprentice and Training programs. Skilled technicians are paid about Rs 1000 per month and engineers are paid Rs 2000 per month and usually make to work for about 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. It is said that in Pondicherry the so called hardware capital of India, computer hardware manufacturers pay Rs 2.50 paisa per hour as overtime wages. In peak seasons these factories lure fresh diploma holders as trainees and extract work for about 1 or 2 months without any payment and dole out only a paper certificate.

It is time that labour and employee work rules are framed and strictly enforced in all these existing and new factories. It is clear from these violations that our workers and engineers are still treated as slaves by these foreign employers. There exist an inferiority complex in our work force who still take all such insults and exploitations by these foreigners who still act as if our country is one of their colony.

Why not restart Gandhiji's agitation - Boycott the products of these companies?