Section – D, Group – 9

Abhishek Jain 19P183

Anshul Tandon 19P189
Krishnakant Bharadwaj 19P201
Varun Patel 19P207
Sudarshan Mall 19P228
Tanya Katiyar 19P231
STRESSFUL WORK CONDITIONS
 Workmen could not go to toilet except during the
two tea-breaks of 7.5 minutes each and the lunch-
break of half an hour and the toilet and the
canteen are quite a distance apart
 Due to the fear of exceeding the 7.5 minutes
break, one could notice during the tea break
workers gulping food or holding the tea cup in
hand while running towards the toilet so as to
finish within the deadline
 Often, a guy drinks tea sitting in the toilet. The
supervisors are often rude in their behaviour with
the workers. Though we have incentives for
attendance, but if one arrives late on a day even
by one minute, he loses half a day’s salary for that
late coming.
RESISTANCE OF MANAGEMENT TO FORM UNION
 May 2011: Activist Manesar workers decided to form
and register a separate trade union. However, the
management wanted them to become members of the
Gurgaon plant union but they refused as they perceived
that Gurgaon union was controlled by the management.
 June to October, 2011: The workers went on strike three
times, mostly due to MSIL committing unfair labour
practices (ULPs) related to their attempts of independent
union formation and resultant issues. The management
initiated disciplinary action against many activist
workers for acts of misconduct committed during these
strikes but later on, settled with them
 The workers succeeded in registering an independent
union on 29th February 2012
 With their own union in place, workers had secured
some concessions from the management
 Contract workers were getting much lower wages than the permanent workers
when they were doing the same work. They also asked for wage increases when
permanent workers received raises.

 Suzuki felt that payment of fair wages and providing humane working conditions
were not important if labour laws are properly managed

 Indian manager’s approach was always negotiation and adjustment but the
Japanese top officials always think of teaching lessons to workers

 Due to these issues, Suzuki Corporation are branded in India as exploitative

employers and saw IR as a class war
UPA
 An unusual move by the government to hire
a very expensive Supreme Court senior
advocate to assist the public prosecutor who
was paid Rs 55 million rupees for himself
and his team.
 It used powers of criminal investigation and
prosecution for ulterior motives.
 Putting activists in jail to please private
business and crush trade union activities,
while putting forth a façade of peace.
 The government’s sole purpose was to
cause delays in getting bail for the workers.
NDA
 Removal of the previously appointed lawyer
from the case.
 Compassionate behaviour towards the
workers, especially those who were not
involved in violence and HR manager’s
death.
 Sending signals of enforcing strict industrial
discipline in the state to attract capital for
the state’s better industrial development
 Regular Communication - Regular communication between the employers and the employee union improves
the quality of the working relationship and minimizes conflicts. If the employer is in constant communication
with the employee union and involves them in formulating the best strategies to handle such market
disturbances, the employer and union can maintain a good, conflict-free working relationship.

 Mutual Respect and Proactive Policies - Organizational management and employee unions work better
together if they both acknowledge that the other has a legitimate and valued purpose. Management controls the
resources and work environment of an organization while unions represent employees in getting the best terms
and conditions of employment. It is obvious that employers and employee unions are interdependent. Mutual
respect makes it easier for employers and employees to meet their goals because it facilitates negotiations and
ensures neither party will unnecessarily take a hard stance to the other.

 Co-operation Unionism between union and management – The Manesar workers have demanded a separate
and independent union for a long time. The management should take the workers into confidence by allowing a
flexible and independent labor union to function in the factories.
 There exists dilemma about the use of hard or soft HR intervention techniques

 After reading the case, there is a need to introspect about-

o What caused the tragic death of the plant's HR head?
o How could such events be prevented in the future?
o How should it tackle permanent versus temporary hiring issues;?
o How should it deal with cross-cultural issues in the present change dynamics?
o How should it promote workers' engagement?
o How can it align its HR strategy with its business strategy?

 Senior management and human resource professionals in MNCs may inadvertently cause disaster due
to their indifference towards regional human resource and cross-cultural issues
 An example of that can be, the Gen Y workers, who were internet savvy and conscious of employee
rights perceived working conditions to be stressful, work schedules unreasonable and supervisors as
indifferent and they decided to form an independent trade union in May 2011.
 Senior management's resistance and indifferent attitude created bitterness in industrial relations. The
tensions resulted in unexpected violence and the tragic burning of the plant's human relations chief, as
well as injuries to 96 executives