Before it Explodes, It Boils and Steams

When I wrote Blue Collar Rising in 2009 (http://www.scribd.com/doc/369141 57/Blue-Collar-Rising), I never anticipated it to be such a selffulfilling prophecy. Close to a year ago, workers hunted down and murdered the MD of Regency Ceramics, in Yanam, Andhra Pradesh; and now, the workers have murdered 1 and injured close to 100 Senior Management executives of the countrys foremost automobile manufacturer, Maruti. I drive a car from the same brand. My dad drives one too. Millions on under educated primary school dropouts make living repairing Maruti cars. The Maruti logo is among the favourite logos of this nation, not just because it delivered Indians from the pain we used to call Ambassador Cars, but also because Maruti is the name of one of our most loved and believed Gods. It is another name for Lord Hanuman, the true lord of the Kaliyuga Jai Shri Ram! But neither Hanuman nor Lord Rama could save Ashwini from having all his four limbs and back broken and then burnt to cinders by an angry mob of what we call workers! While the rage I feel is almost as murderous as the rage those criminals felt, my anger is also directed towards the famed Maruti management. I think that they have lost some of their nuts since their former Director retired. When I think about everything in black and white, I personally believe that the Maruti Management was solely responsible for this annihilation, not the workers, not the milieu nor the issues. Here is why I believe what I believe: Before is explodes, it steams and boils Production Stoppages There were around three production stoppages in the plant in the last two years. Three extended negotiations with workers, none of which were settled amicably. In conciliations, settlements patched together have always had unhappy endings. Either you make them happy, or you make them nothing. Either you fuel them or you fry them. The so called middle path have always been a Pain in the Ass, because, when you return to work after a production loss, people talk to each other, and they keep wondering who gained what?, and this leads to unhappiness all around all over again. Somebodys got to win definitively. Feedback from the production line

Factories, ancient or new age, are like football fields in action. You have men jostling close to each other. Most times, you can smell each others sweat and grime. Production line supervisors are always right there, with the men. It is impossible, impossible to believe that no management representative knew of the simmering discontent on the assembly line! It is Impossible to believe that no one knew how murderous the rage was. Or, those who knew were so low in the hierarchy that they feared speaking the truth to those above? Maruti might have the proverbial monkeys below and assess above hierarchy. Anything is possible; it is up to Maruti to tighten their weakest links. But had Maruti management known this, I am sure they would not have taken the decision to initiate the wretched negotiations within the plant, especially when this was a boiler room, and that too, without the presence of cops close by. Someone was too sure of himself. Look what that cocky basxxxd did! The Hindsight Foresight Problem Production floors are no longer safe havens for Managers. Most organizations learn this only in hindsight. Today, I am sure that the Maruti management would be thinking of having some foresight. Had they been prepared for such an emergency, much of this could have been avoided. A Panic Room would cost between 50 Lac to 100 Lacs. It is to be built in the admin block with multiple access control systems that have back up of back up. It needs to be connected to mobile towers so that cell phones work and should have its own aircon and its own inline video streaming systems. It may cost a crore, but can save lives and buy precious time required to mobilize forces. A short contingent of CISF battalion would cost around INR 850/- to INR 1250/- per Manday and could be deployed. Multi-Level Access Controls systems are a must. There are negotiation areas and worker hold areas. There should be standard protocols that have to be documented. These protocols have to be followed before and while the talks are continuing. The breach of any protocol should trigger executive protection measures. And when the time comes to stop talking and start running, every executive should know where to run. A rope-way or an underground exit to a neighbouring block of buildings, an underground escape route anything that could save a life is priceless. Intelligence I remember how it was almost a decade ago, when talks would break down between our company and its workers. The Personnel Head (and not the broiler chickens called HR Heads that we currently have) would send me scurrying to meet the biggest trade union leader. My only work was to earn his trust, be his friend. Similarly, the RJLC and the ALC had to be met frequently. Together, the Union Leader & Labour Commissioner combine would help solve most of the problems. The rest, we used to brace it out. Nobody killed anybody. When two parties have been talking offline all the time, they dont kill each other during discussions gone awry. The Human connect scores higher over dispute fuelled acrimony. In Maruti, who was talking to whom? Are there any more young personnel managers who were tasked to build bridges before you actually need them? Who is having tea with the Trade Union leaders? Managing Media The nameless faceless shareholder is GOD While the media (other than Times Now-thanks to Arnab) was sobbing over the crores of profit lost, Maruti was assuring the nation that we will start production, we will not run away from Manesar, we will be inefficient if we take 6 months blah blah blah! With this, the Maruti Management is losing out on using the most potent

weapon of 21st century to its advantage. Imagine the contrast to that of the PR TATAs generated post attack on The Taj Mahal Hotel! The news of Maruti Lockout comes five days late. No one came on news and said something as simple as, How do we run factories where a segment of workers kill their officials and burned down factories? The government has to assure us that it is safe to run factories in Gurgaon-Manesar belt, else, we dont know if we can continue. And then, the lock-out could have happened. Wow, you would have had the government issuing all sorts of proactive comments and hurrying to track down the murderers. No home visits, no news on compensation I am yet to hear news on how Maruti takes care of its executives and their families in such cases.... Compare this to what the TATA's did.... Will this be enough had asked Ratan Tata once when the HR Manager of the group has presented a multi crore compensation package to him for the victims of the Taj Mahal Massacre, what about the Pan Store and the Hand Cart Vendors, they are also our people! This is stuff of legends. And Maruti surely is not seeding any stories in this area at all. Zero Political Pressure India is a democracy. The appointed government is given 5 years to loot the coffers, make policies that will ruin the country and make advertisements that will explain why they did it and how no poor man will go hungry! The only currency bigger than the Gandhi greenback is called VOTE. The union leaders are vote aggregators, the policemen await instructions from their political masters and the biggest corporations in the world cannot move them. But votes can, and so can political pressure. There seems to be an absolute silence after the carnage that happened at the plant. The CM is yet to call on the Management (for fear of being seen siding with the Management). No Commissioner of Police or any other entity coming on TV and stating that WE WILL HUNT THEM DOWN. But imagine what a 30 second cc camera feed of carnage, men hunting down men and breaking legs, men setting fire to their own place of employment etc can do. It will be a game changer. The videos will go viral. News channels, already hungry for fodder, will air them a thousand times, Youtube will show a million hits in a day the government will then run for cover! Until then, none of these a-holes will move their d--ks. My Personal Angst Thank God that my car was not built by this generation of bad minded evil tempered workers of Maruti. It was made 10 years ago, and that crowd was definitely different. Imagine how I would have felt that the car I drive have been made by murderers... my next car wont be a Maruti. Also, no one will get life sentence in the next ten years. Probe agencies will bungle up, people will forget all this, and life will move on. The dead HR Managers family will become tired of waiting and give up. His children will get married and his widow will continue to believe that this was will of God and suffer in silence. No laws will be changed, no one will bark, not even a whimper. The Management will play a Harishchandra and be forgiving and move on. Sadly, there is no Mossad on the Job to hunt the killers down, one by one. And the worst of all, the same killer assholes will sit in conciliation a decade later, as Ministers and MLAs. Maruti management paid 40 million Indian Rupees to trouble-making union leaders to buy them out. The money they paid to buy out Unions was the blood money they paid for their young GM-HRs life.... in advance. The wages of creating trouble is 40 million, imagine what it will be if you create trouble and then also kill some

of the managers. Rationale states that it should be higher! In the absence of nationalized Trade Unions inside Maruti, the young upstart wannabe Trade Union leaders will kill to make fast bucks. Conclusion The so called organized sector, from the employer perspective, remains thoroughly dis-organized. There is a crying need for centralization of background verification data and employment and exit records of all blue collar workmen across the country. Else, naxals, militants and possibly, Terrorists will continue to find safe haven in factories in India and the Managements would not know them, until it is too late anyway. Until such time that the government and the managements develop some spine to stand up to this onslaught, white collar executives will continue to abandon this sector. Rajesh Kumar The write is an HR professional with close to 15 years of experience, 6 of which was spent in rubber factories of Harrisons Malayalam, an RPG Group Company in Personnel and Manufacturing functions.