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The Indian Blue Collar Scenario

A War In Waiting

Rajesh Kumar
Rajeshkmr7@gmail.com
Ever since the Japanese European and Korean companies have found a safe and
cheap haven in the Indian manufacturing belts, the IR scenario has not been the same.
While new age Phlip Kotler and Six Sigma slogans have replaced the “XYZ Union
Zindabad” writings on the walls, the simmering discontent among the workforce is
petering short bursts of gun fires all over the place. India is not like China, our military
will not fight our blue collar, our tanks and field guns will not point on their chests. Soon
there will be a war… the English speaking puppet Managers who seem to be in control
will soon quit jobs and run… or will be run down.

Some of the more prominent reasons that are inciting this deep discontent are the
following:

The concept of minimum wages:

The minimum wages in India is still around $ 2.20/- when compared to the US $60.0/-
With the cost of living index already up in the heavens, the poor and the employed are
not much better than the poor unemployed today! This constant pressure to increase
their earnings for mere subsistence makes this worker jump for a job that will earn him
or save him another $5.00.

The rise of un-organized, quasi organized sector:

New age organizations across
the nation are busy spending
exorbitant amounts and go to
absolutely insane lengths to
keep the trade unions away
from their factories. In doing so,
they are now engaged in
guerilla warfare with their
workforce. The seething
discontentment that rages
under the hardly veiled charade
of works committees and
workforce empowerment
groups erupts into ambushes
and spitfire once in a while. The
entire blue collar IR scenario in
new age companies sits on tons
on powder, in waiting, for a spark. The high attrition rate among HR managers in new
age industries, especially the MNC ones is a case in point.

September 5, 2010
The Disillusioned Educated Unemployed:
The Grandmothers from two generations before us are more aware about what goes
around the world than present day educated unemployed engineering student. The
Indian polity has come together to herald an all new level of educational debauchery.
Like the population of India, the population of Engineers, Business Grads and Technical
Grads has exploded beyond reasonable requirements.
All those young Indians who would have otherwise taken up agriculture or become
carpenters, plumbers, fitters, electricians or even car drivers are now engineers and b-
school graduates who would have been far better off being blue collar.
Now that they are white collared, the only jobs they can do are jobs that would not soil
their lapels, move their muscles. We have more managerial aspirants than workmen on
the floor. Finally, when the education loans and peer pressure starts mounting, they turn
to blue collar opportunities, and are in for a surprise! No employer would hire them…
they are over qualified!
We now have a situation where we do not have enough 12 th pass (only) workers and we
have too many graduates and engineers who fill in positions that they inherently believe
is beneath their dignity. The seeds of destruction… are in the seed itself.

Spade Management Style:

A spade moves earth typically only in one direction. Blue collar workmen today use this
imagery to describe modern day management styles. With the near
collapse of institutionalize collective bargaining, workers feel that all
management initiatives are aimed to benefit only one entity, the
management
For example, a typical HR Manager in a New Age Manufacturing plant
will introduce employee measures somewhat this… We provide world
class facilities to our employees… we provide bus facilities, canteen
facilities, air conditioned work environment and a healthcare for self and family. We also
provide one weekly off per week and one day a month additional leave.
There is an employee side to this introduction…They provide buses so that we can
reach on time, but would not pay us the bus fare, should we decide to come on our own.
The equipments are electronic and need dust proof sanitized surroundings, and the
robots need the air-conditioning to figure out which screws to tighten! Nothing is here
because of us. And of course, they provide nothing more than what has been our
entitlement by law for the last 60 years!

September 5, 2010
Thus, the HR Manager and the worker are living in two different worlds, each see the
same thing in two absolutely different ways. These two edges of the bridge do not meet
midway.

His Masters Voice

Man management in blue collar is not taught in the haloed classrooms of the ISB, it is
learnt and acquired over a period of time. With the blue eyed boys moving from b-
schools to head retail, white good giants and automobile manufacturing companies, the
pressure on plant managers and plant HR is immense. With mortgages and children
education costing a bomb, it is difficult for these new age gentlemen to stick to the polite
truth and act from a position of strength. A lock out or a go slow is a mortal KRA killing
incident, peace and production is what is required at all costs! These gutless executives
soon turn the concept of management upside down. The strict discipline required to run
the nuts and bolts in a factory atmosphere turns into a laissez-faire set up, and with no
real leaders from among the blue collar, every guy with a alpha male syndrome
becomes a leader, hence contributing to industrial establishments fast resembling naxal
areas.

Forward
There are numerous other reasons why the blue collar discontent is going to brim over
into everybody’s problem. The politics of appeasement, the pressure of inflation and the
gradual shift from Industrial Relations and Personnel Management to new age Human
Resources Management is all part of the cause.

The bed rock of Industrial harmony is strong trade unions, reasonable salaries, great
benefits that touch real lives and a benevolent but strict management style. The
absence of these has cut the grease out of our IR machine. The heat will soon fuel short
circuits… there will be fire.

Rajesh

September 5, 2010