Is Auto Giant Maruti Really Back on Track? A Lesson to be Learnt

Good to hear that Maruti’s Manesar Plant has again become operational after a month long haul on 21^st August, post an untoward incident which took the life of a manager, left 100 injured and rendered many more internally bleeding. It is further heartening to note that Maruti intends to hire more people for this plant from 2^nd September 2012 and would be hiring more of permanent workers.

A lesson this auto giant has been made to learn after a bloody bath between management and workers. This incident has brought out the reality, why companies are pushing government for ensuring more teeth in the hiring and firing policy and more openness in Labour Regulations Act. Is it because such flexible norms will make them more powerful to take undue advantage of poor workers and misbehave with them who are actually the real force behind the success of Maruti or any company for that matter. In most of these cases, justice and genuine dues denied by companies to the workers trigger such fights which can spread like a wild fire and then the magnitude of damage could only be imagined as has happened in case of Maruti “a mammoth loss of over US$250 million in this shut down” and in 2011-12 company lost US$500 million in production while sales dipped by more than 11%”.

In the name of austerity measures and reducing cost, hiring workers on contract, exploiting them fully yet not paying reasonable salary and other security benefits and making them to work in dingy condition would naturally provoke even a simple, sober and non-aggressive person to become violent and belligerent; while, the top brass keep sleeping and enjoying till this outburst erupts like volcano. It is crucial to understand other factors which trigger such incidents. Such incidents are also a reaction to the growing economic inequality between the benefits at managerial level and at workers’ level, greater inequality in the system and uncontrolled rise in cost of living. Further, indignation due to ill treatment by management to workers and taking workers for granted is like adding fuel to the fire.

It is high time all the stakeholders must realize widening socio-economic disparities and make attempts to reduce them. Government, I feel has a much larger role to play as it has the most powerful tool of framing righteous policies and getting them legislated. But again mere legislation of the policies will not serve the purpose, it is important to ensure their effective implementation on the ground. Unless it is ensured every effort taken in this direction will prove to be futile.

Please share your views and comments. Your suggestions are most welcome J