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When did you start work in the union?

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The work of the union - when I joined work I became a member of the union. 

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At that time, slowly, as the need arose, the workers liked me 

4
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and elected us for their rights, that we would protect their rights.

5
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But there were several unions in Maruti, HMS?

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In Maruti, the first union I joined was INTUC.

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It was a Congress?

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Yes it was a trade union of the Congress. After that some people established HMS. 

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It had a majority of 95%, nevertheless it did ot succeed. 

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Then the management suggested that some people should get together 

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and make an independent union, which has no relation to any of the political parties. 

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So in 1997, an indpendent union was made with a new registration.

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 INTUC was registered in Delhi. 

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Our company is in Haryana, so we took registration from Haryana, 

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we made an independent union which had no relation to anybody else. 

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This is the union that has come along. 

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After that, in Haryana there is the Indian National Lok Dal, the party of Ajay Chutala - 

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some of those people also tried to establish a union, but this was not successful. 

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Therefore until today there is just this independent union.

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In 2000, 4,600 permanent employees were union members, and 1,500 - 2,000 from casual workers 

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so there were around 6,000 members.

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In 1998, we had a wage agreement. 

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There was a government pension scheme in which we had demanded that this money would not be enough. 

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The second issue was that of incentives -

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 the management and unions had together prepared an incentive scheme 

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which would be revised from time to time. 

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In 2000, when we were struggling on this issue, this demand of ours was dropped, 

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and instead the management imposed the Good Conduct Undertaking, 

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although we had a standing order from the beginning that management and union sign the agreement in mutual understanding

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 and get it certified by the Harayana government. 

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Then as our agitation grew, the members of parliament of the government of India also came, 

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the leaders of other trade unions of India also joined us. 

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Our agitation was so big that nothing like this had happened in the 50 years of this country's history.

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The legal case of the victimised people is still going on.

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Our agitation went on for 3 months in which 4,000 workers surrounded the Industry Ministry for 29 days. 

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The media did not support us so much. 

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Among the public too there was the impression that these people earn quite well but still they are on strike. 

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But we had not gone on strike.

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The company had called the police and locked up the gates.

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How many people were inside and how many were outside?

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In the beginning, the maximum number of people were outside, 

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but after 15-20 days, a small group broke our unity and went inside. 

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People from the rival unions went inside. There was one union but there were different groups within it. 

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So people who were against us went inside, and they made an effort to get some more people to go inside. 

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But mostly they were people who had done apprenticeship in Maruti 

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- the management and contractors got them from outside and tried to make the factory run. 

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But 4,000 people were outside and 500 - 600 people, including apprentices - you cannot do much production like this.

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In the beginning we used to shout slogans at the gate, after that there was the closure of the factory, 

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with this we put up a tent outside the gates of Maruti. 

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Because of this, the Maruti management got stay orders which said that we had to move 200 meters away. 

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So we moved 200 meters away, then they got another stay order that we should go 1,000 meters away, 

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so we went 1,000 meters away. After that the company gates were open and we did not try to stop anybody forcibly.

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But the company's aim was to reduce the number of permanent employees.

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As to reducing the number of permanent employees, we has also given them the option. 

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We did not ask that people should be made permanent immediately - it takes 1-2 years for training. 

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But people have been working on contract for 8 years, and nothing has happened to reduce the number of contract workers. 

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Since 2000, they have increased contract workers and their production has been increasing. 

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Yes, it is true that the costs of the subcontract workers is low, but the economic conditions are not so good.

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What do you learn from it?

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What can be learnt from it that from 2000 to now, in all companies the atmosphere is as if you are getting work out of some donkey. 

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So this is the scene. It is not like before when a person worked he had a feeling of belonging - it was his company. 

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In the whole India, whether it is the IT sector or somewhere else,

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 in India there was a culture that whichever company one has joined, only 2.5% changed their company. 

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For most, they retired from the company they had joined. 

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Now what has happened that a worker thinks that for my work I need this much money, but if I am not getting the money 

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and if another company is offering me more money, I will leave this company and go to another one.

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 Nowadays this is the environment in the whole of India.

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What is in this picture?

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This is the Industry ministry where 4,000 people went from here and occupied it 

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and for 29 days, we did not let the people of the ministry pass from here.

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How did you get food?

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Some people used to go and get us food.

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It was in the winter?

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Yes, it was December