It may be recalled that in early 1990,
the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, under the leadership of Shankar Guha
Niyogi, initiated the process of organising
thousands of contract workers facing extreme injustice and exploitation in the
private ancillary industries of the Bhilai
Steel Plant. It also needs to be recalled that
these struggles were met with retrenchments, arrests, violence and repression
by the industrialists and the erstwhile
Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government of
Madhya Pradesh. A report then by the Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) [1] concluded that government agencies
"are at best indifferent to the workers’ plight
and at worst identify themselves completely
with the managements’ point of view. Thus
the onus of ensuring the implementation of
the labour laws lies with the worker."
It culminated in two major violent events:
the assassination of Niyogi on 28 September
1991, and firing by the police on 1 July 1992
on a non-violent month long protest by
workers and their families in which at least
17 people died and many more injured.
Following Niyogi’s assassination a Citizen’s
Committee [2] inquired into the workers’
movement and suggested ways to establish
peace and safeguard civil liberties and dem-ocratic rights in the region. The report said,
"society we live in today, that the right to organise for collective action so as to ensure
the preservation of democratic institutions and
a just share in the fruits of development for
various sections of our population, recognised
as a fundamental right at the dawn of our
freedom, has now come to be treated as a law-and-order problem. The democratic institutions have become the instruments of the
powerful to crush the legal aspirations of the
vast majority of poor, and if the downtrodden
are not to conclude the meaninglessness of
non-violence, the State must respond immediately and positively, lest the erosion of faith
becomes irreversible."
These observations, made two decades
ago, remain just as relevant today. The
exploitation of contract workers in the
Bhilai industrial area remains largely unaddressed till date. Further, there has been no
change in the response of the industrialists
and the government with regard to addressing the legal rights and demands of
the workers; both continue to label their
struggles as law and order problems and
crush their organisations, rather than address the issues raised by the workers, as
the current situation indicates.
While the condition of contract workers
remains unchanged, the economic context
of industrialisation in Chhattisgarh has
changed drastically. Starting with the economic liberalisation of the 1990s and surging after Chhattisgarh was formed in 2002,
the influx of global capital into the state, by
way of extractive industries such as mining, power generation and cement manu-
facturing, has been voluminous. Compared
to other Indian states, Chhattisgarh boasted of the highest GDP growth rate (11.49%) in the year 2009-10 and has consistently
attracted one of the highest amounts of investment proposals in recent years, ranking as the state with the highest proposed
cumulative industrial investment between
August 1991 and December 2010. [3]
Chhattisgarh is poised to become a
cement manufacturing hub in India. Home
to one of the largest limestone deposits in
Raipur district, Chhattisgarh currently has
nine large cement manufacturing plants
and 12 minor ones, amounting to a total
annual production of 13.5 million tonnes.
The state has signed memoranda of
understanding (MOUs) for another 34
large cement plants, and is expected to add
another 100 million tonnes per annum of
manufacturing capacity (over half of
India’s total current production). After
India lifted all controls on pricing and distribution of cement in 1989, and allowed
100% foreign direct investment in the
cement industry, the world’s two largest
cement manufacturers – Lafarge of France,
and Swiss multinational Holcim have
acquired plants in India. Holcim, after its
takeover of Associated Cement Companies
(ACC) and Ambuja groups, is the second
largest cement manufacturer in India, and
announced in January 2010 that it planned
to spend $1.1 billion on expansions. In the
company’s own opinion, India was an important component of its global strategy,
and it was making aggressive plans to
increase its presence in this “high growth
market”, and ACC and Ambuja had a key
role to play in meeting this demand. Given
this highly lucrative cement market in the
country, it is ironic that the plant of the
public sector-owned Cement Corporation
of India at Mandhar, Raipur, has been
declared sick.
Struggles to Enforce Labour Laws
Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh
(PCSS) was formed in the cement plant of
Associated Cement Companies (formerly
owned by the Tatas) Jamul in 1989-90,
where it successfully organised a substantial section of the contract workers en-
gaged in loading and unloading to obtain
wages on par with the regular workers as
mandated by the Cement Wage Board
agreement. Efforts at unionisation at Modi
Cement (now Ambuja-Holcim) at Rawan
in 1990-91 were suppressed. The present
unionisation at Ambuja-Holcim began in
2009-10. PCSS currently has a total membership of around 12-1,500 workers.
In the cement industry, as in other industries, contract workers have few rights, and
are, for the most part denied even the legally
mandated minimum wages, provident fund
benefits and basic safety equipment. Even
though the Cement Wage Board Award, a
tripartite agreement between the government, the Cement Manufacturer’s Association and the central trade unions in force
since 1978, prohibits the use of contract labour in all, except a few cement manufacturing operations, in actual practice in
Chhattisgarh, the use of contract workers is
rampant; the proportion of permanent
workers is estimated to be barely 10%.
Legal Battle in ACC-Holcim, Jamul
Despite these conditions, the contract
labourers in ACC Jamul have been fighting
a remarkably heroic battle under the PCSS
for the last two decades for their regularisation and the implementation of this
award. In 1989, after a 56-day strike and
indefinite hunger strike by Niyogi, the coal
and gypsum loading-unloading workmen
started getting cement wage board rates.
In July 1992, after 17 industrial workers including three from ACC Jamul lost their
lives in the brutal police firing on a Rail
Roko Satyagraha during the historic “Bhilai movement” when workers of dozens of
factories joined together against the illegal contract system, ACC was forced to
regularise about 120 casual workers.
In 2000, as a consequence of the recommendations of the Bhilai Police Firing
Inquiry Commission, the state government
referred the dispute for regularisation to the
State Industrial Court. Later, the manage-
ment started a vicious attack on workers’
rights by removing workers from the reference list by illegal retrenchment, denying
medical facilities and simply denying work
to force them to opt for “voluntary” retirement. Even as the union struggled and succeeded, amidst endless adjournments, to
obtain an interim order from the court not
to change working conditions, the management managed to c oerce about 300 workers
who had been working for the past two-three decades in the cement production
processes to resign. But many resolutely
stuck on. In 2005, the company silently
changed hands to Holcim. Finally, in
February 2006, the industrial court reached,
in its own words, “the inescapable conclusion” that the 573 workmen deserved to be
regularised since their contractual employment was a paper arrangement and the contractors mere name lenders. Those who had
been dismissed or coerced into leaving were
directed to be reinstated by the company.
The company was directed also to implement the Cement Wage Board Award.
Predictably, the company appealed in
the high court for a stay on the award.
While granting the stay, the high court
directed the company to pay “full wages
last drawn” to employees whose reinstatement was being stayed, during the pendency
of this appeal. [4] However, the company
interpreted this “full wages last drawn” as
payment of two, three, or five days of wages per month – which is what the company
was paying the workers towards the end of
their tenure, in order to coerce them to
leave. Challenging the company’s interpretation of “full wages last drawn” as violating the spirit of the Act – for in no way can
two or three days wages be called “subsistence wages” – and demanding a humane
interpretation that it means a full month’s
wages at the rate at which wages were last
drawn per day, the union filed a writ petition in the high court. However, neither the
single judge nor the division bench in the
High Court has been able to offer any interpretation of this crucial phrase “full wages
last drawn” till now. The appeal before the
Supreme Court is still pending. Meanwhile,
on 22 March 2011 the high court again upheld the industrial court’s ruling that the
contracts with the workers are “sham and
bogus” and directed to company to regularise the workers who are still working.
Despite this, the company is refusing to implement this high court order, which has led
the union to launch an ongoing indefinite
dharna in Bhilai. On 24 April this dharna
will be completing three weeks.
Struggle at Ambuja-Holcim
The contract workers’ struggle in the
Ambuja-Holcim plant at Rawan is unique in
the support that they have drawn from the
local farmers, who have also come together
to draw attention to the damaging impact of
such cement plants on their lands and liveli-
hoods. Since mid-2010 PCSS as well as the
people living in the vicinity of the cement
plant at Rawan have made written submissions to the management, the governor, the
district collector, and the labour commissioners highlighting the violation of labour
laws relating to contract workers and the
problems of the villagers in the vicinity of
the plant, and have sought redressal.
It is only due to the efforts of PCSS at
Ambuja Cement Plant that in 2010 the
company agreed to pay minimum wages to
its contract workers. Before the struggle,
the com pany was even deducting the cost
of boots and safety goggles from the paltry
wages it paid to its contract workers. How-
ever, contract workers are still not getting
attendance cards – the name of the principal employer is not shown on any document given to the workers, nor are the
workers given the statutorily prescribed
documents that can prove that they are
working for Ambuja. They are also not get-
ting provident fund, employees’ state insurance, and bonus benefits.
Farmers in Baloda Bazar, under the banner of Udyog Prabhavit Kisan Sangh are
strongly opposed to the setting up of new
cement plants. These farmers have faced
displacement with paltry compensation
and there is an almost universal violation of
the state’s rehabilitation policy promising
permanent employment to one family
member per affected family. Of the 38
farming families of village Rawan whose
lands were occupied by the company 25
years ago, only 20 have received some form
of compensation. The company has also
failed to fulfil its promises of providing
local employment and is accused by the villagers of illegally encroaching upon their nistari lands (village commons), such as
grazing grounds, playing grounds, grounds
used for sanitary purposes, roads, canals,
and village ponds. The company has encroached upon the common grazing land to
build a helipad/airstrip; in Bhadrapalli,
and is building a colony and school on the
village lands. Villagers are facing severe
water shortages for irrigation purposes
since the water is getting diverted for industrial houses. In addition to exploiting
natural water bodies within the plant area
by tube wells, the company also procures
about 400 tankers of water from the farmers’ private tube wells. This continuous, unchecked, uncontrolled exploitation of underground water has resulted in water level
receding from open wells and drying up of
ponds. Despite protests by the locals, no
one from the company has bothered to look
into their grievances. In fact the earlier proposal for constructing several annicuts for
irrigation purpose was turned down by the
government recently on financial considerations. On the other hand, recently, a dam
built for irrigation in the Kukurdih village
was “acquired” for the purposes of the company, Ultratech Cement.
Response of Ambuja-Holcim
Ambuja-Holcim has responded to the
organising efforts of the union by victimising activists and contract workers associated
with the union. In October 2010, the management filed cases against 20 activists and
demanded that orders be passed prohibiting
them from assembling in the vicinity of
plant, from holding dharnas, gheraos, etc,
claiming that they had no right to interfere
in production and transport activities of the
cement plant. Some of the charges made
against the activists are: that these 20 peo-
ple were misleading the people in the surrounding villages by talking about employment, wages, and land issues; that they regularly instigated the people against the cement company, because of which the “indus-
trial peace” in the area was being disrupted;
that they organised sudden gheraos, chakka
jams, and forcibly stopped employees and
workers, with intention to economically
hurt the company, and interfere with its
“constitutional rights to trade and business”.
The company also made multiple accusations that the union leaders “confused” the
people by distributing pamphlets containing
“inflammatory and misleading infor mation
against the cement plant”, and spreading
fear among the employees and workers.
The management also made a written
response in October 2010 to demands
raised by the workers and affected villagers, in which it claimed that it had, in the
last 23 years of its operation, directly or indirectly given priority to employment for
local people; in addition priority has been
accorded to development of the local areas.
The company refused to recognise PCSS as
a union, and denied flouting l abour laws or
dismissing workers. It went on to say that
this “so-called union” PCSS, had been working with undesirable elements to obstruct
employees and officers and that they have
indulged in the a busing and manhandling
of employees. Accord ing to the company,
"In light of these facts, it was clear that the petition of the workers and villagers was given
to merely disturb the industrial peace and de-
velopment in the area. That if the applicants
had some genuine complaints then the only correct way out was to seek legal redressal through
the labour court (emphasis added)."
Yet, it is seen that the management was
not cooperating with the labour department
to resolve the labour dispute. Between July
and September 2010 the assistant labour
commissioner (ALC) had summoned Ambuja
several times for resolving the labour dis-
pute, but it did not turn up. That, “in a demo-
cratic polity such as ours, if capital has the
right to conduct business without let or hindrance then labour too has a right to a living
wage, to a life of dignity and the right to freedom of speech and association”,5 has been
expressly ignored by the company.
Between September and November 2010,
52 workers including one woman, were refused work and entry into the plant. The
workers were not issued any charge sheet or
verbal warning prior to these actions. Com-
plaints were filed by the PCSS and five meetings held in Raipur with the ALC up to March
2011. At the end of the conciliation proceed-
ings on 2 February 2011 the ALC issued
orders to the management to take back the
illegally locked out workers, ensure that all
labour laws are implemented – especially
that the workers are paid at least minimum
wage and bonus, etc. These orders were to
be implemented within one month; how-
ever, in the intervening month, the management illegally locked out and refused work
to another eight workers; and the ALC has
been helpless, or unwilling, to take any
action against the company.
The Larger Context
In the present situation of a global financial
crisis, when efforts to bring in “austerity cuts”
and withdraw labour rights in Europe and
the UK are being resisted by massive demonstrations of workers and students, multinationals with deep pockets are zeroing in
on mineral-rich areas like Chhattisgarh,
relying on their financial clout to manipu-
late the bureaucracy and political establishment. Holcim has already shut down five
Spanish plants, and is planning to close
down operations in several US plants. This
Swiss multinational pays its European response in October 2010 to demands
raised by the workers and affected villag-
ers, in which it claimed that it had, in the
last 23 years of its operation, directly or indirectly given priority to employment for
local people; in addition priority has been
accorded to development of the local areas.
The company refused to recognise PCSS as
a union, and denied flouting l abour laws or
dismissing workers. It went on to say that
this “so-called union” PCSS, had been working with undesirable elements to obstruct
employees and officers and that they have
workers $8 an hour but their Chhattisgarhi
counterparts only $2 a day. Siphoning off
raw materials and violating environmental
standards and labour laws with impunity
are more the norm than exception.
Given such widespread violations, PCSS
is trying to unite all workers of the cement
industry across union lines under the banner of the “Chhattisgarh Cement Shramik
Vikas Manch”. On the previous May Day,
contract workers from several plants held
demonstrations and gate meetings and
distributed pamphlets. A noteworthy feature of these May Day demonstrations,
one that the management was at pains to
suppress, was that the workers of one
plant participated in the actions in other
plants. PCSS and the CMM (Mazdoor Karyakarta Committee) have been expressing
active solidarity with the anti-displacement movements in Raj nandaon (against a
proposed special economic zone), Raigarh,
Jashpur and Dharamjaigarh (where large-scale displacement is underway for min-
ing). They have also participated actively
in the satyagraha for the release of Binayak
Sen, and against the widespread forcible
internal displacement of adivasis of Bastar
to which he drew the attention of the na-
tion. It is not surprising that PCSS and the
CMM have become quite an eyesore for the
state of Chhattisgarh.
Indira Chakravarthi, Shalini Gera