Get sorted – Content List of GurgaonWorkersNews
The first list shows the cronological content of the newsletters published so far, the second list groups articles according to subject:
* Automobile Industry
* Call Centres
* Proletarian Experiences
* Riots and Road Blockades
* SEZ
* Strikes
* Textile Industry
* Urbanisation
Content List (Cronological)
/// Newsletter no.1 – January 2007 ///
* “Missed Calls” –
Overview on Gurgaon Call Centre Sector
* Interviews with Call Centre Workers (HP, Citibank and others)
/// Newsletter no.2 – April 2007 ///
* “Death and Development” –
Short news on industrial accidents, road deaths, bomb alarms, serial killings and other achievements of development in Gurgaon and on its highways.
* “Factory and Police Station” –
Recent story by metal worker from Faridabad, told to FMS.
* “Exploitation and the Law” –
Short glimpses of current conditions in various Faridabad factories, in the shadow of the official labour law (March 2007 issue of FMS)
* “Pressline Worker” –
Example of small but sucessful industrial action, trying to avoid the lock-out trap.
* “Bicycle-Rikshaws and Strike at Liberty Shoe factory” –
Short chat with former Liberty Shoe worker and short news on last industrial dispute at Liberty Shoe factory, Haryana.
* “Commuter Riot” –
Fear on the highways, stress on the railways. Proletarian commuters causing a riot at Faridabad Old Station. From October 2006 issue of Faridabad Majdoor Samaachar (FMS).
* “Techy Wage Increase” –
Unsuccessful attempt of wage increase by Gurgaon Call Centre Workers
* “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part One” –
Economy times two in Gurgaon, short summary of recent newspaper articles on the planned SEZ.
/// Newsletter no.3 – May 2007 ///
* “Thousands of invisible hands moving the automobile [sic!] industry in Gurgaon area, Part One” –
* “After the Slum Fire” –
Short note on a slum fire in Gurgaon, which destroyed about 800 huts of families of cleaning and recycling workers on 24th of April 2007.
* “Whose security is it anyway?”, Part One –
Reports from Security Guards in Gurgaon, one of them employed by G4S, formerly known as Group4.
* “Unions and the Law” –
A short introduction to the Industrial Disputes Act and some general thoughts on union-related local problems.
* “Amtek Incident” –
Short report on a union struggle in the automotive supplying industry which happened in 2006
* “Fashion Express” –
Recent dispute in Gurgaon in March and April 2007. Permanent workers of the textile export company occupy the factory after union leaders got sacked.
* “Concrete on Soil: A Glimpse at Urban Development in Gurgaon, Part One” –
Some background information on population development, land acquisition, planned urban projects and the bubbling real estate sector in Gurgaon.
* “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Two” –
The developers face more resistance from local farmers and the nuisance of legal changes while trying to convert land ownership into capital.
/// Newsletter no.4 – June 2007 ///
* “Needles and Threats”, Local Textile Industry, Part One –
A text on the local textile export industries, including Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar reports from a young textile worker about his journey from village to industrial city life.
* “No more Heroes!”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Two –
Factory occupation and chain reaction of workers’ unrest at Hero Honda and Shivam Autotech factory in Gurgaon, April 2006. A rough overview of one of the most significant workers’ actions in the area during recent years.
* “Red Flags and Welfare Schemes” –
Some symbolic gestures during the Day of Labour.
* “Extreme Outsourcing”-
Because of rising rents and wages and toll-taking highwaymen, some local call centres make use of internet cafes in order to outsource work; they speed-up the hiring process and put pressure on the less fortunate service workers.
/// Newsletter no.5 – July 2007 ///
* “Escorts: The big carve-up”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Three –
A short glimpse at the history of Faridabad’s formerly biggest industrial company Escorts and some current reports of permanent and casual workers employed in the tractor division, published in Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar (FMS).
* “126-hours-week for Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, General Motors, …”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Four –
Situation of truck drivers at Anand Nishikawa Ltd., a rubber sealing supplier for the automobile industry in India. One of the Anand Nishikawa Ltd. factories is situated in Gurgaon, Udyog Vihar Phase One.
* “Whose security is it anyway?, Part Two” –
Longer report of a retired skilled factory worker now employed by Haryana Industrial Security Service as a security guard. Published in FMS no.227, May 2007.
* “Masters and Servants, Short note on rich men’s deaths” –
On the 19th of May a servant in Gurgaon killed his master and the master’s wife and child.
* “If you cut the power, we block the roads” –
Women in Old Gurgaon and Faridabad take power into their own hands and protest against water and electricity cuts. A short glimpse at the protest and about the electricity policies in Haryana.
* “Riot and Looting at construction site of Reliance thermal power plant after road death” –
Short note on a riot which did not take place in Gurgaon, but Yamunanagar, both in Haryana, after a man was killed in a road accident.
* “The human fence post, the burried and the real estate boom, Another glimpse at urban development in Gurgaon, Part Two” –
DLF, one of the biggest private developers in India safe guards barren land against slum dwellers, the pavement-mafia in Gurgaon Udyog Vihar is part of the game and there are more deadly accidents in the rat-race of urbanisation.
* “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Three” –
Some general thoughts on ‘Why SEZs?’, some news up-dates and a report from a free journalist attending a resistance meeting of farmers against the SEZ
* “Drifting Social Whirlpool Chakkarpur” –
Some words about a 45 min stroll through convoluting/transforming Chakkarpur, a village in Gurgaon. The pictures and discriptions of the walk can be found on the web-site.
/// Newsletter no.6 – August 2007 ///
* “Motherson: Graveyard-shifts and company supervised gender division at the international car part supplier”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Five –
Account from a young casual worker about his experiences in the Motherson Gurgaon plant
* “How even the poorest worker can still make him(!)self feel like a boss” –
A rather clueless discription of domestic work and violence in a neighbour-hood in Gurgaon
* “Delphi – Automobile Boom and Crisis against the workers”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Six –
The reports of a permanent worker and a worker hired through contractor also describe how a wildcat strike of the temps in January 2007 was finished off by a united front of management and permanent workers’ union.
* “Dig your own hole: A Glimpse at Urban Development in Gurgaon”, Part Three –
/// Newsletter no.7 – October 2007 ///
* “Working in the grave of Hauz Rani, a textile factory hidden in the cellar” –
Report from a textile worker, published in FMS no.229, July 2007. Ghost factories manufacture clothes for bigger companies in Gurgaon and Okhla, clothes which are then exported. In June/July 2007 some piece workers went on strike and enforced a piece rate increase.
* “Working at Nutan Printers” –
Longer report of a print worker in the south of Delhi, published in FMS no.229, July 2007. The print-shop’s main client is the central government, the workers work 35 1/2-hours shifts.
* “Injured!” –
A mother tells about how a company tried to get rid of her son after he had been badly injured at work, published in FMS no.229, July 2007
* “How to punish some and spread fear amongst thousands”, Local Automobile Industry Part Seven –
A longer, sketchy overview on the situation at Honda Scooters and Motorcycles India (HMSI) factory in Gurgaon, from the repression in summer 2005 to the wildcat strike in September 2006 to the situation of workers hired through contractors today
* “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Four” –
Short note on farmers threatening to commit suicide against land aquisition and short article on mass factory closures in Noida, which might be related to the re-concentration of capital in the Gurgaon, Manesar area
/// Newsletter no.8 – December 2007 ///
* Reports from workers exploited in the net of automobile suppliers, Local Automobile Industry Part Eight –
Some short reports from workers employed at Omax, Lumax, Breaks India and Anu Industries, all suppliers for the local automobile industry in Gurgaon.
* Three brothers –
Short discription of the long wage and house working days of three brothers who share a room in Gurgaon.
* Made paranoid, kicked out, and crashed… –
We document three short articles on occupational risks of call centre workers.
* Successful wildcat strike of temp workers at Delphi in Gurgaon –
Many of the workers hired through contractors who wildcat struck in January 2007 have left Delphi since then. In August 2007 the temp workers – not represented by any union – laid down tools again for few hours.
* Welcome to the Machine –
Summary on re-structuring at Maruti Suzuki, Gurgaon, Local Automobile Industry Part Nine
The supply chains of Maruti are the main arteries of the local industry, they reach down into the backyards of the slums controling their labour intensive work by connecting it with work-shop production, semi-automatized small factories, capital intensive ‘first tier’ factories and the main assembly lines of its plants.
* “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Five” –
– Your backyard a SEZ? Short note on the inflation of SEZs in Gurgaon
/// Newsletter no.9 – February 2008 ///
* Mass Redundancies in Gurgaon Textile Export Sector, Autumn 2007
* Thoughts on Gurgaon Kidney Trade and the local Medical-Industrial Complex, January 2007
* Short news item on police raids against ‘illegal’ migrant workers in Gurgaon, December 2007
* Workers’ spontaneous actions enforce the payment of minimum wage in several factories
* Up-date on Fashion Express Factory Conflict
* Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Six –
Summary on recent news items on the developing SEZ in Gurgaon
/// Newsletter no.10 – April 2008 ///
* Long list of short information from workers employed in over 40 different companies in Gurgaon
Most of the reports do not show much more than the fact that the official legal working standards are not met. Most of the reports are from textile export factories, gathered in September and October 2007
* Accident, everything but accidental!
A worker employed by Dheer Internationals in Gurgaon tells about how the company treated him after his work accident.
* Short report from Motherson Sumi System Worker from Noida
* Short up-date on medical-industrial complex in Gurgaon
/// Newsletter No.11 – May 2008 ///
* Female textile worker complains about verbal harassment by supervisor at Gaurav International, Gurgaon –
Gaurav International is an Indian garment export house that works with major US companies like GAP and Wal-Mart.
* Continuation of short reports –
Most of the reports do not show much more than the fact that the official legal working standards are not met. Most of the reports are from textile export factories, gathered in January and February 2008.
* Wildcat strike by casual workers employed by Eastern Medikit, Gurgaon, December 2007
* Police attack on striking casual workers at automobile parts manufacturer Automax, April 2008 –
The crisis started when hundreds of workers of Automax, a company manufacturing automobile parts, went on a march in Gurgaon, demanding that casual employees be made permanent employees of the company. The police claimed they had had to resort to this “mild action” to “defuse a crisis”.
* Protest by call centre workers against dismissals, December 2007 and March 2008 –
The protests of call centre workers against dismissals and unpaid wages continue. In the case of Voicecraft “as the situation got worse, even the police rushed to the spot and intervened to defuse the crisis”.
* Village demolition by development authorities for industrial projects, April 2008 –
Under the protection of 100 policemen 50 houses in Gurgaon villages Koh and Kasan were demolished for ‘industrial purposes’. Unfortunately we only heard about it through the official media.
* Dog restaurant opens in Gurgaon –
This is not about morality or sensation, but about the death-wishing ignorant arrogance of the ruling classes: while food riots spread across the globe and the local food prices in Gurgaon sore they open a luxurious dog restaurant right next to slums and industrial areas.
* German –
On the web-site you can find a structured translation of all Gurgaon Workers Newsletter in German.
/// Newsletter no.12 – August 2008 ///
* Thread cutters, ironing workers, taylors, machine operators, assembly line workers for medical equipment or automobile parts, Coca Cola workers, security guards… –
Continuation of short reports from workers employed at different companies in Gurgaon
* Book on working-conditions of women workers in Gurgaon and Noida
* Three short stories of young workers on strike –
They are employed at Gulati Exports factory, a major textile exporting company. They work for Action Construction Equipment (ACE), a tractor manufacturer in nearby Faridabad. They laid down tools at Ilpea Paramounts, a manufacturer of plastic and rubber parts for the automobile industry.
* 1,500 cops deployed in Gurgaon to secure the building of parts of the SEZ boundary wall
* City makes Countryside –
On the background of the land-grab for the SEZ we summarise some articles on the changing class structure in the rural areas surrounding Gurgaon, Haryana.
/// Newsletter no. 13 – October 2008 ///
* Gated Communities and Repressive Social Paranoia
With the increasing spatial concentration of wealth and misery, of upward opportunities and downward spirals, those who feel privileged tend to feel threatened. In that way Gurgaon is a landscape of mass-psychosis. Some notes on the consequent urban armament: gated communities, increased repression in the local prisons, more CCTV, more police…
* Ten Construction Workers Die after Accident in Gurgaon
The main driving force and victims of the construction boom are the construction workers themselves. In times of credit crunches real estate developers and construction companies try to squeeze margins and cut corners. In September this resulted in the death of ten construction workers in Gurgaon, ten workers deaths that we heard about that is.
* Short Report from Orient Fan / Wal-Mart Worker
The factory is situated in Faridabad, Sector 6, Plot 11. When a representative of Wal-Mart visits the factory, all workers hired through contractors are told not to come to the factory.
* Yet another list of short information from workers employed at different companies in Gurgaon –
Continuation of short reports of workers from Achiever Creation, Elite Medical, Radnik Export, Rolex Auto, Viva Global, gathered and published in FMS, July 2008.
* Wildcat Sit-Down Strike at HMSI
Short news item on yet another short wildcat action by casual workers and workers hired through contractors at Honda HMSI. Sources said about 1,500 contractual and casual workers of HMSI have gone on a sit-in protest, on 6th of September 2008. The strike was triggered when a factory supervisor slapped and manhandled a worker after a scuffle during the night shift
* After wild-cat strike and mass-dismissals: Factory manager of automobile supplier in NOIDA got killed during workers’ unrest –
Two weeks after the wildcat-strike at Honda, another wild-cat strike of workers hired through contractors employed by the automobile industry ended in a bloody mess, just around the corner.
* The Bloody Real Estate of Crisis
On 13th of August 2008 on a protest march in NOIDA, another satellite town of Delhi, several farmers were shot dead by the police and dozens got injured. If the protests in NOIDA and the demands for higher compensations are the rock of the current crisis of the real estate sector then the rising interest rates, the rising prices for construction material and the recession of the US economy is its hard place. A glimpse on the current crisis…
* Hells Bells – Glimpses on Current Trends in Gurgaon’s Call Centre Sector
In August 2008 the newspapers announced the lay-offs of hundreds of call centre workers, many of them in Gurgaon. The reasons given for the job cuts are the recession in the US and the high costs for office rents. We summarised some news on the sector.
* Energy Crunch and Destructive Forces in Gurgaon –
Maruti runs its own power-plant and in the way most of the factories and call centres in the industrial belt around Delhi do: burning fossil fuels in their generators. About 350,000,000 litre of diesel are consumed each year by these industrial units. A glimpse on the local energy crunch.
/// Newsletter no.14 – November 2008 ///
* Short Reports from Workers employed in factories in Gurgaon and Faridabad
* Yet another short wildcat strike at Hero Honda plant
After a short strike at Hero Honda in the Dharuhera plant in May 2008 and a wildcat sit-down by casual workers at Honda (HMSI) plant in Gurgaon/Manesar in September 2008, the news reported about another action early October 2008.
* BPO union or another form of individualisation of call center workers
* Never use a needle, summary of study on local textile export industries
/// Newsletter no.15 – December 2008 ///
* Factory Workers’ Reports from Gurgaon
* Building Workers’ Riot in Delhi
After a fatal accident on the Commonwealth Games construction site more than thousand building workers destroyed company offices, cars and trucks.
* Crisis in Gurgaon
The two driving industries and symbols of Gurgaon’s urban development have come under crisis attack: DLF real estate giant asks for financial help from Haryana government and Maruti Suzuki scales down production output.
/// Newsletter no.16 – February 2009 ///
Working Paper on Class Struggle and Crisis in India
/// Newsletter no.17 – May 2009 ///
* I am not in a cage anymore –
Auto-biographic story of a 49 years old driver about his experience as a working-class Sikh in Delhi since the 1970s
* Math and Wrath of Misery –
The workers’ reports tell us about average daily wages for workers in modern industries of about 100 Rs. This short note puts this wage in a context of daily expenditures.
* Long list of short workers’ reports about wage and working conditions in Gurgaon factories –
The reports were gathered/spread between November 2008 and March 2009.
* Proletarian Poverty and Common Wealth Games –
After a deadly work accident on the huge Common Wealth Games construction site in Delhi workers struck and destroyed company property.
* Another fatal factory fire –
On 1st of May 2009 the Lakhani shoe factory in Faridabad Sector-24 caught fire, six workers were killed, 30 more were injured severely.
* Tecumseh Workers’ Report –
About re-structuring process and workers’ resistance at Tecumseh compressor manufacturing factory, formerly belonging to the multi-national Whirlpool.
* Real Estate of Crisis in Gurgaon –
Short summary about current real estate crisis in Gurgaon.
* Security Fears-
Report on DLF Training Camp for Security Guards
/// Newsletter no.18 – June 2009 ///
* Lakhani Shoes Fire, the Unknown Deads and a Riot –
Some reports from local workers indicate that the official number of fifteen dead workers at Lakhani Shoes is untrue, it could be as many as 100.
* Rural-Urban Migration Reversed? –
Story of a factory worker who became unemployed in Gurgaon and Faridabad industrial areas, who decided to apply for a job with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) ‘back home’ in the village, and who found out that nothing is guaranteed.
* One and a half years and a global crisis later… –
Rather subjective snap-shots about changes in and of Gurgaon, after a longer absence from the disaster-zone of progress.
* Short workers’ reports from Gurgaon industrial area –
Reports from workers collected during Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar distribution in Gurgaon, May 2009.
* Rebel Voices from Female Worker and Friends at Boni Polymers –
Woman Worker’s refusal to be victimised by the crisis in the automobile sector.
* Impressions from demonstration for locked-out and jailed Musashi workers –
The fate of many traditionally lead workers’ struggles in the area: first locked out, then locked-up.
* Babylon will fall eventually: Shaky Grounds of Gurgaon High Rise Real Estate –
The real estate sector in Gurgaon is not only shaken in its money-form, the weak foundation of its high-rising concrete-steel-glass form corresponds to the thin base of its inflated share-holder value.
* The upper-class is revolting –
Thin air on the top. The first half of 2009 saw various protests of the middle class: students at a management college and parents at private schools agitating about high fees and other forms of tighter selection processes.
* Delhi Film Screening –
We plan to screen a series of workers’ documentaries from various times and spaces. If you are interested in the screening or getting hold of the films (see list below), please get in touch.
/// Newsletter no.19 – July 2009 ///
* Thermo Workers Power to Quit Work –
Short report by a worker who was employed on a site of the Rashtrya Taap Vidyut Nigam / NTCP (National Thermo-Electricity Corporation).
* Worker who works his machine in various textile export factories –
Short report from a worker who is shifted from factory to factory
* Short report by older daily wage worker drudging for Food Corporation of India since 30 years
* Supply Chain Gang –
Five short stories of workers manufacturing parts for Maruti Suzuki, Honda and Hero Honda in Gurgaon
* The Gurgaon Model and a Murder –
Documentation of an older article on the legal adjustments which were undertaken in order to convert Gurgaon farm-land into real estate assets throughout the 1990s
* Water Wars –
Short glimpse on the waterfront. A dyeing worker reports on how water-wastage in the dyeing industry in the Delhi industrial belt is covered by police and officials. A friend from Faridabad tells us how water gets to his slum-area – followed by a description of how water supply expresses social hierarchies in a Gurgaon back-yard.
/// Newsletter no.20 – September 2009 ///
* Short workers’ reports from various factories in Gurgaon –
Reports were given to and re-distributed by Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar in June/July 2009. Most of the 22 reports are from textile export companies.
* A nocturnal roof-top conversation –
Skilled textile workers talk about changes in technology and work-organisation undermining their power
* The daily railway bad trip to work –
Report by a worker about the conditions and an accident on his daily railway journey to work.
* The Youth is Getting Restless –
Hidden Struggles in Okhlas Textile Factories
* Future Deads for Sure –
Town planners ignore the crumbling foundations of their high-rising buildings and they gamble with future dead by neglecting their own pathetic-helpless urban fire safety measures. A summary of a main-stream article on the issue.
* Some Video-Interviews with Workers from Faridabad/Gurgaon now Online –
You can find some interviews with workers from Faridabad/Gurgaon on http://www.visions-of-labor.org.
/// Newsletter no.21 – November 2009 ///
* 19 Short Workers’ Reports from Gurgaon Factories
* Summary of NGO-Study on Garment Workers’ Conditions in Gurgaon
* White Collar Blues –
Short reports of workers employed by the post, in public transport, in the education sector and by the HDFC Bank in Gurgaon.
* The Youth is Getting Restless –
Hidden Struggles in Okhlas Textile Factories, Part 2
* Automobile Unrest and Jam in Gurgaon –
Five Points related to the Rico Strike in October 2009 –
1) Rust belts, rural anger, new workers’ movement around the car? –
2) Rico and beyond: One month of automobile unrest in Gurgaon –
3) What crisis? – In what phase of the Indian automobile industry did the Gurgaon strike take place?
4) The terrific jam – We summarise two recent articles on traffic jams and road accidents in Gurgaon.
5) Video-Interviews with Gurgaon Automobile Workers
* From Cluster to Class War –
Summary of study “Gurgaon and Faridabad – An Exercise in Contrasts” by Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari
* Local War on terror and the Terror of the Labour Market –
On security counter-insurgency and job reservation in Haryana
/// Newsletter no.22 – January 2010 ///
* Garment Export Workers’ Reports and Escapist Hopes of the Export Regime
* Hell’s Bells: Call Centre and Workers in Global Movement –
Interview with Convergys Call Centre Workers in Late Summer 2009
* From BPO to Riot – Proletarian Students in NOIDA clash with Police
* The Real Estate of Urban Wasteland –
Public-Private Tsunami from Dubai to Gurgaon
* Accumulative Axis of Evil –
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor
* Mariginal Living, Marginal Deads –
Slum demolition and National Highway
/// Newsletter no.23 – March 2010 ///
* Hundreds Hotspots of Potential “Internal Threat” –
Workers’ Reports from Gurgaon Factories
* Food Price Inflation, Farmers Supply-Chain Management and Urban Re-armament
* Two Random Encounters –
Short conversations with a locked-out worker employed in the defense industry and a boxing farmer’s son
* After Rico Strike now Trouble at Denso Car Parts Factory-
Report after a Visit in Manesar
* NREGS: Encircle the countryside?
Fragments on the social control character and conflicts around the world’s largest work-fare program
/// Newsletter no.24 – April 2010 ///
* In the Spiral of Inflation –
Reports from Gurgaon Metal and Textile Factories
* What Are You/We Doing –
Proletarian Autobiography of a 55 years old rural labourer, factory worker, unemployed, peanut seller Against The Day…
* Up-Date on Lock-Out –
Denso Car-Parts Factory and Groz Tool Factory
* Warfare against the Huts, Gated Peace for the Palaces –
Note on Slum Raids and Fires in Gurgaon
* Organising Workers Collectivities –
Proposal by Faridabad Majdoor Samachar
/// Newsletter no.25 – May 2010 ///
Article on Class Composition and Communist Collectivities in Gurgaon
/// Newsletter no.26 – May 2010 ///
* Three Communists in Gurgaon –
We talked to three communists who decided to focus their political activity on the vast landscape of working class formation.
* Service?! What the hell! –
Some voices of security guards and drivers, metal and textile workers. Some voices from workers looking for a job at corner labour markets, harassed by the police and other thugs.
* Inflationary Proletarian Struggles –
While opposition parties arrange token protests against the price hikes, workers on the ground battle for higher wages.
* Update on Struggles of Permanent Automobile Workers at Sanden Vikas and Exide –
The first-tier supplying industry of the automobile industry is heating up under the double pressure of increasing demand of the assembly plants on one side and the more confident claims of the workforce on the other.
* Waterwars, Energy Crunch and Revolting Villages –
Groundwater levels in Gurgaon drop dramatically, gobbled up by industry and upper-middle class life-style. Water and energy flows are diverted away from workers’ and peasants’ spheres.
* The Social Tsunami Impact / Snap-Shots against Capital-Class-Crisis –
This is an attempt to introduce a regular update on general tendencies of crisis development in Indian – motivated by Greek shock-waves, naked shorts and potential spillovers.
/// Newsletter no.27 – June 2010 ///
Proletarian Photo Story on Kapas Hera: A Working Class Dormitory Shanty-Town in Gurgaon. Kapas Hera is one of the biggest new ‘working class dwelling clusters’ in the Delhi industrial belt. Within the last ten years rent-based mass-accomodations for around 200,000 to 300,000 workers and families emerged out of dusty scrub-land around a minor peasant village.
/// Newsletter no.28 – July 2010 ///
Misery is Relative / Comparison of Minimum Wages in Delhi and London. The ‘relative’ comparison of Delhi and London minimum wages and their respective purchasing power would be a rather tedious endeavor if seen as a purely statistical enterprise or poverty competition.
/// Newsletter no.29 – August 2010 ///
* Short Workers’ Reports from Gurgaon Factories
The following short reports have been collected and re-distributed by Faridabad Mazdoor Samachar in late spring 2010.
* Fifteen Years of Proletarian Existence in Delhi and Gurgaon / 5 Minutes Chat with Worker in Udyog Vihar
Starting his life in Delhi with work at an electronics factory, he shifted to Gurgaon to work in the export garments industry, now he is unemployed looking for day-jobs.
* Short Report of a Pavement Shop-Keeper in the Industrial Area of Gurgaon
Struggle of small pavement-traders with the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), about the right to stay in the area.
* Local struggles over Water, Struggles over Power
We document some struggles over water and (social) power: road blocks, blockades of power stations, strike of power staff against privatisation, boss-napping, riots and destruction of polluting factories.
* Street Fighting Days / Delhi Street-Sweepers have a Riot
Delhi rulers spends billions on the prestigious Common Wealth Games, paying little to those who build and maintain the city. Now street sweepers had had it, they expressed their riotous souls and anger, demanding proper contracts and higher wages.
* Gurgaon: A Paranoid Post-Neo-Liberal City
Neo-liberal endorphins are re-ceeding, land-prices dropping, bonuses in the middle-management departments coming down. The city wakes up, looks around itself and startles in fear: who are all these people left out by the rush?!
* The Social Tsunami Impact / Snap-Shots against Capital-Class-Crisis
In June-July petrol-prices went up after the government’s free-floating, we saw token general strikes and the state extending its anti-Naxalite counter-insurgency to the rural workers’ unions of Punjab and Gujarat.
/// Newsletter no. 30 – September 2010 ///
* The Isolated Social Work in the Household
Report by working class woman about housework and home-based wage work.
* The Fractured Assembly of Automobile Workers
Several reports by workers employed by the automobile industry, among others by Honda motorcycle factory in Manesar.
* The Physical Attacks of Garment Production
Reports about attack on Viva Global workers, a supplier of Marks and Spencer in the UK. More reports from various other (garment) factories.
* The Global Hunt for Calls
The crisis in the US puts pressure on local wage levels and causes re-re-location of certain types of call centre work from India back to the US.
* NGO-Worker Report
Worker employed by Circle of Animal Lovers reports about working conditions and conditions for the animals.
* Series of Wildcat Strikes in the Garment Industry
Reports from various garment factories in Delhi and Gurgaon about wildcat strikesto enforce the new minimum wage.
* The Student-Worker?
Report on current conflicts at Delhi’s universities.
* A Strike against the Games
Photo-report and strike news from building workers employed for the Common Wealth Games.
* An Ideal Village
Report after visit in a Haryana village about class structure and the social death of artisans and peasantry.
* Real Estate Scandal in Gurgaon
Short news item on recent real estate corruption scandal in Gurgaon.
* The Social Tsunami Impact
Summary of crisis development in July – August: rising inter-state tension due to inflation and foreclosures against indebted farmers.
/// Newsletter no.31 – October 2010 ///
Voices Against The Day – Seven Young Workers from Gurgaon
We spoke to seven young workers from Gurgaon about village and urban life, about work and hope. They are in their early twenties, part of the new generation of workers in urban India. They work in textile and automobile factories, as rickshaw drivers and cleaners in guesthouses. The conversations touch upon the question of gender, religion and other identities thrown into urban social transformation. They ask the question of social power against the current state of being.
/// Newsletter no.32 – November 2010 ///
* Workers in the Automobile Supply Chain: Reports and Interview with Rico Unionist –
We document short reports of workers in the automobile supply-chain, followed by an interview with a Rico union official. Rico Auto workers were locked-out in September / October 2010.
* Private Exploitation and Police Raids: Reports on Domestic Work –
We summarised two reports on situation of domestic workers in Delhi and Gurgaon. The ‘decadent’ character of the boom since 1991 increased the numbers of domestic workers: the lack of other job opportunities and the demand of the waged middle-classes pushed a lot of mainly migrant workers into the private urban spheres.
* Gurgaon Factory Workers Reports –
After the Viva Global / Marks and Spencer dispute in August and September 2010: exploitation continues in Gurgaon’s and Manesar’s industrial areas.
* Urbanising Disaster / News Rubble from Gurgaon –
News rubble from the disaster-zone of urbanisation…
* The Social Tsunami Impact / Snap-Shots against Capital-Class-Crisis –
This is an attempt to introduce a regular update on general tendencies of crisis development in India – motivated by Greek shock-waves, naked shorts and potential spillovers.
/// Newsletter no.33 – December 2010 ///
* Local Automobile Workers: Electronic Flow-Management: Combining High-Tech Assembly Plants and Slum Production –
We document glimpses at different sections of the supply-chain: an article on ‘electronic flow-management’ at Suzuki Maruti in Gurgaon; articles on the situation of 1st tier suppliers and a worker’s report about conditions at ‘Wing Automobile’; and finally reports from workers employed in the workshop and slum production of the automobile industry in Faridabad.
* Local Call Center Workers: Re-Location, Domestication and an Angry Workers’ Report
Short article on a rather dubious ‘technological fix’ for the Gurgaon call centre industry and an angry worker’s report from Sparsh BPO about working conditions, a strike and mass lay offs.
* Migrant Workers’ Living Sphere in NOIDA / An Academic Research –
An excerpt from “Global Capitalism, Workers’ Spaces and Processes of Selective Inclusion/Exclusion: Findings from a Newly Industrialising Area in India” by Anita Trivedi
* Student Protest against Fee Hike in Haryana –
On 5th of October, students enrolled in Adarsh College of Education held a militant protest outside the college. They were protesting against the college authorities for forcing students to pay 40,600 Rs for the course offered.
* Death of a Manager and Murder Case against 377 Automobile Workers at Allied Nippon –
In September 2008, an industrial dispute at Graziano car parts manufacturer in NOIDA ended in a manager’s death and subsequent victimisation of workers. Two years later, a different location in the wider Delhi industrial belt, a different automobile parts manufacturer, the same victimisation of workers after a violent dispute.
* Big Industry and Local Land-Owners: Alliance in Gurgaon –
The power base of Haryana’s political class is the combination of big industry and local landowning class. Real estate rent and industrial profits transform into tax money – of which the local peasantry receives their share in form of compensation payment.
* The Social Tsunami Impact / Snap-Shots against Capital-Class-Crisis –
Debating the dimension of the micro-credit crisis in India we have to go beyond the old formula of ‘parasitic moneylenders in new disguise’. The growth of micro-credits is essentially part of the wider global development: credit money has to fill the gap between global over-capacities and subsequent under-consumption.
/// Newsletter no.34 – January 2011 ///
* Another Voice Against the Day: Young Worker’s Story –
We met a 20 years old worker who lives and works in Manesar, near Gurgaon. It is his individual story, but it is at the same time the story of a dominant part of global working class today: the migration between village and town, the wandering between different jobs and sectors, the dissolution of old social structures, the necessity to form new ones.
* A Glimpse Across the Border: Automobile Workers’ Report from Tata Motors Supplier in Uttarakhand –
We translated and summarised an article about the conditions in the factory of a Tata Motors supplier based in the state of Uttarakhand.
* Wildcat Strike at Honda HMSI in Gurgaon, Manesar –
On 17th of December 2010 a security personnel at Honda factory misbehaved with a temporary worker. In response temporary workers – not represented by the union – went on a wildcat strike, which brought production to a halt.
* Sad End of the Viva Global Dispute: Dead End of Institutional Trade Union Struggle? –
We have documented reports about the dispute at the garments export factory Viva Global before. The struggle has been lost in an objective sense: the workers engaged in the trade union lead dispute are now unemployed and the factory has been closed.
/// Newsletter no.35 – February 2011 ///
* From Supply-Chains to Radical-Chains: Reports from Automobile Workers –
We document 17 short reports from automobile workers, employed up and down the supply-chain: from work-shops with a couple of machines and half a dozen (child) labourers to the first-tier suppliers and the assembly plants employing thousands.
* The Empire’s New Clothes: Reports from Textile Workers –
The big industry can rely on patriarchal family structures, small workshop industry and village systems to produce the necessary skilled tailors – the industry has little costs for training, but the workforce comes with it a certain professional pride. Major companies like Modelama try to undermine the bargaining position by ‘chain systems’ and ‘one-week-free-training’ offers.
* Turn a Blind Tired Eye: Security Guards from Gurgaon –
There are tens of thousand security guards employed in Gurgaon. There is security technology and architecture, there is a system of supervision, but the system is fragile in it’s inner self. The watching eye is tired, turning watchtowers and CCTV circuits into an eternal void.
* Death of a Worker: Work Kills at Modelama Textile Factory –
At around 3am on the morning of 16th January Md. Rabban, died of electrocution through one of the live wires protruding out of the production line in the garment factory, Modelama Exports in Gurgaon.
* After the Wildcat: Another Report by Honda HMSI Worker –
After publishing a first general report in the last issue of GWN we spoke to workers hired through contractor employed at Honda who took part in the strike.
* Step Across the Border: Lakhani Workers in Faridabad and in Uttaranchal –
We translated reports from Lakhani workers in Faridabad and Uttaranchal – a state further north of Delhi/Haryana. Lakhani is a major company engaged in garments, plastic and rubber manufacturing – from sandals, shoes (AllStars, Puma, Adidas) to car parts.
/// Newsletter no.36 – March 2011 ///
* Tunis, Algiers, Cairo, …Shahajanpur? – The Social Significance of an ‘Accident’ –
On 1st of February 2011 – while riots rocked the Kasbah and downtown Cairo – around 150,000 young people arrived in Bareilly, near Shahajanpur in Uttar Pradesh, India. They came in order to apply for 416 vacancies at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). Facing the enormous mass of applicants the local administration called off the hiring procedure. The angry youth started smashing the place up, burnt cars, government and media buildings.
* Falling Back or Falling Apart? – Impressions from a Visit in Babripur Village –
We went to visit our friends village in the North-East of Uttar Pradesh, Babripur near Kadipur, about 80km from Sultanpur. The following is a rather impressionistic account between ganna harvest and buffalo grazing, less of an empirical study.
* The Medical Industrial Complex: Short Notes on Medical Tourism and Report by Medanta Hospital Worker, Gurgaon –
A general overview and two reports by workers from the Medical Industrial Complex.
* Expanded Capacities – Squeezed Profits: Reports from Local Automobile Workers –
In January 2011 automobile manufacturers in India announced both, record sales and plans to expand future capacities on one hand, and a drop in net profits on the other. We briefly summarise a report on Maruti Suzuki and add two reports by workers employed in the supply-chain.
* Step Across the Border: Struggles of Lakhani Workers in Uttaranchal and International Electro Devices Ltd. Workers in NOIDA –
We translated workers’ reports from two Marxist-Leninist journals Nagrik and Mazdoor Bigul, both reports dealing with current ‘company struggles’ in electronics and footwear manufacturing.
* The Re-Making of a Local Ruling Class –
During the last months several ‘land scandals’ have entered the public stage in Gurgaon. The immediate reaction is to complain about the obvious rampant ‘corruption’ connected to the land deals. A deeper analysis would be necessary which would have to locate the ‘corruption’ within the formation and re-formation process of a ‘local ruling class’.
* InCALLab Zindabad –
We are about to start distributing a leaflet amongst call centre workers in Gurgaon, calling for proletarian exchange of experience. Send email for English/Hindi version of leaflet.
/// Newsletter no.37 – April 2011 ///
* Position Paper on Potential for Wage Struggle Offensive in Gurgaon – Delhi Industrial Belt
/// Newsletter no.38 – May 2011 ///
* Garment and Torment: Reports from Local Textile Workers –
Short reports collected and distributed in Faridabad Majdoor Samachar in early 2011.
* Slum Demolition and Violent Resistance in Faridabad –
In early 2011 in Faridabad, bulldozers sent by HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority) turned houses of several hundred working class families into rubble.
* Police attacks striking workers at Harsoria Healthcare –
Police attacks striking Harsoria Healthcare Workers on 25th April 2011. The workers had been on strike since 17 days.
* Short Wildcat Strikes in the Garment Industry –
Short wildcat strikes at Valaya company and Concept Clothing.
/// Newsletter no.39 – June 2011 ///
* Interview with HMS Thomson Press Union Leader in Faridabad about period 1970 to 1990
/// Newsletter no.40 – July 2011 ///
* Historical Account and Current Report from Coal Fields near Dhanbad, India
/// Newsletter no.41 – July 2011 ///
* Preliminary Balance Sheet on Maruti Suzuki manesar Factory Occupation in June 2011
/// Newsletter no.42 – August 2011 ///
* Faridabad-Gurgaon, India – Three Workers’ Stories and Thirty Workers’ Photographs
/// Newsletter no.43 – September 2011 ///
* Workers’ Reports from Factories in Gurgaon and Faridabad
* Systemic Collapse or Emancipation? On Accidents –
Commemorations for victims of two ‘accidents’ in Gurgaon and Okhla and further political questions
* Small Upsurge of ‘Spontaneous’ Collective Actions by Garment Export Workers in Okhla, Gurgaon, Manesar –
Seven reports on direct collective actions in the garment export industry in March 2011
* Shifts in the Call Centre Industry: Gurgaon Tata Workers’ Report and Global Re-Locations –
We look briefly at local and global changes in the call centre industry in relation to the current crisis. We document a call centre workers’ report from Gurgaon.
* A Prelude? Current Problems of the Real Estate Giant DLF –
DLF was the main private company ‘which built the new Gurgaon’. This was before the global real estate bubble burst. Currently the fundaments of DLF are shaky.
/// Newsletter no.44 – November 2011 ///
* Material for the Debate on Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Struggle June to October 2011
/// Newsletter no.45 – December 2011 ///
* Story by Proletarian Tenant on Landlordism in Tekhand, Okhla Industrial Area
* Workers’ Reports from (Garment) Factories in Gurgaon
* Unfinished Business: Further Material for Debate on Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Struggle
* Delayed Notes on Harsoria Healthcare Workers’ Strike in Gurgaon
* GurgaonWorkersHistory: Voices from the Local Working Class History, Dharuhera
/// Newsletter no.46 – January 2012 ///
* I / We in Crisis – A Workers’ Life and Day
Story of a 37 year old worker about childhood in Faridabad, about moving abck-and-forth between town and village, about working as a teacher, security guard, factory worker, peasant.
* We are the Crisis – Struggles of Teacher Trainees
Report on struggle of BTC teachers in Dehradun
* The Global Crisis Re-Surfaces in
India
Summary on relation between Euro crisis and credit crunch in India
/// Newsletter no.47 – February 2012 ///
* Two Decades of Unrest at Clutch Auto in Faridabad
* The Failing ‘Kingdom of Dreams’: The Global Crunch and the Local Crisis of Real Estate
* The Middle-Class is Revolting – On Riot at Metallica Concert and Non-Payment Movement
/// Newsletter no.48 – March 2012 ///
* Further Material on Struggle at Maruti Suzuki, Manesar
Translations of two Workers’ Diaries
* Yanam is Everywhere: Trouble at Adidas/Reebock/Puma manufacturer Adigear, Manesar
/// Newsletter no.49 – April 2012 ///
Thoughts on the Rural Employment Scheme MGNREGS, India – For the International Debate on Work Schemes and Crisis Regimes
/// Newsletter no.50 – May 2012 ///
* Thesis on Workers’ Organisation
* Struggle at Harsoria Healthcare in Gurgaon
* Lock-out at Flexonics in Manesar
* Riot at Orient Craft in Gurgaon
* Struggle at Lakhani in Faridabad
* Unrest at Theme Export in Okhla
/// Newsletter no.51 – September 2012 ///
Material on Workers’ Inquiry, Organisation and the Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Struggle
/// Newsletter no.52 – November 2012 ///
* Relocated… – Report by a Computer Worker from India on Work-Visa in the UK
* Leaflet by Mouvement Communiste on Closure of Ford Factory in Genk, Belgium –
/// Newsleter no.53 – December 2012 ///
* Story of a Metal-Polishing Migrant Worker in Faridabad and Okhla
* Suggested Reading for Future Armament
Content List (subject-related)
no.3: “Thousands of invisible hands moving the automobile [sic!] industry in Gurgaon area, Part One” – A short introduction to the local automobile industry, plus five Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar reports from workers employed in different companies of the supplying sector (Yamaha Motors, Super Auto, Talbros Engineering, GEMI Motors, Alpha Instruments)
no.4: “No more Heroes!”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Two –
Factory occupation and chain reaction of workers’ unrest at Hero Honda and Shivam Autotech factory in Gurgaon, April 2006. A rough overview of one of the most significant workers’ actions in the area during recent years.
no.5: “Escorts: The big carve-up”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Three –
A short glimpse at the history of Faridabad’s formerly biggest industrial company Escorts and some current reports of permanent and casual workers employed in the tractor division, published in Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar (FMS).
no.5: “126-hours-week for Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, General Motors, …”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Four –
Situation of truck drivers at Anand Nishikawa Ltd., a rubber sealing supplier for the automobile industry in India. One of the Anand Nishikawa Ltd. factories is situated in Gurgaon, Udyog Vihar Phase One.
no.6: “Motherson: Graveyard-shifts and company supervised gender division at the international car part supplier”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Five –
Account from a young casual worker about his experiences in the Motherson Gurgaon plant
no.6: “Delphi – Automobile Boom and Crisis against the workers”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Six –
The reports of a permanent worker and a worker hired through contratcor also describe how a wildcat strike of the temps in January 2007 was finished off by a united front of management and permanent workers’ union.
no.7: “How to punish some and spread fear amongst thousands”, Local Automobile Industry Part Seven – A longer, sketchy overview on the situation at Honda Scooters and Motorcycles India (HMSI) factory in Gurgaon, from the repression in summer 2005 to the wildcat strike in September 2006 to the situation of workers hired through contractors today
no.8: “Reports from workers exploited in the net of automobile suppliers”, Local Automobile Industry Part Eight –
Some short reports from workers employed at Omax, Lumax, Delphi, Breaks India and Anu Industries, all suppliers for the local automobile industry in Gurgaon.
no.8: “Successful wildcat strike of temp workers at Delphi in Gurgaon” –
In August 2007 the temp workers – not represented by any union – laid down tools again for few hours. The management first reacted by threatening with lock-out and closure of the plant, then decided to give the workers a significant pay rise.
no.8: “Welcome to the Machine” – Summary on re-structuring at Maruti Suzuki, Gurgaon, Local Automobile Industry Part Nine
The supply chains of Maruti are the main arteries of the local industry, they reach down into the backyards of the slums controling their labour intensive work by connecting it with work-shop production, semi-automatized small factories, capital intensive ‘first tier’ factories and the main assembly lines of its plants.
no.10: * Short report from Motherson Sumi System Worker from Noida
no.11: * Police attack on striking casual workers at automobile parts manufacturer Automax, April 2008 –
The crisis started when hundreds of workers of Automax, a company manufacturing automobile parts, went on a march in Gurgaon, demanding that casual employees be made permanent employees of the company. The police claimed they had had to resort to this “mild action” to “defuse a crisis”.
no.12: * Three short stories of young workers on strike, Gurgaon-Faridabad industrial belt in spring 2008. They are employed at Gulati Exports factory, a major textile exporting company. They work for Action Construction Equipment (ACE), a tractor manufacturer in nearby Faridabad. They laid down tools at Ilpea Paramounts, a manufacturer of plastic and rubber parts for the automobile industry.
no.13: * Wildcat Sit-Down Strike at HMSI
Short news item on yet another short wildcat action by casual workers and workers hired through contractors at Honda HMSI.
no.13: * After wild-cat strike and mass-dismissals: Factory manager of automobile supplier in NOIDA got killed during workers’ unrest
no.14: * Yet another short wildcat strike at Hero Honda plant
After a short strike at Hero Honda in the Dharuhera plant in May 2008 and a wildcat sit-down by casual workers at Honda (HMSI) plant in Gurgaon/Manesar in September 2008, the news reported about another action early October 2008.
no. 18: * Rebel Voices from Female Worker and Friends at Boni Polymers –
Woman Worker’s refusal to be victimised by the crisis in the automobile sector.
no.18: * Impressions from demonstration for locked-out and jailed Musashi workers –
The fate of many traditionally lead workers’ struggles in the area: first locked out, then locked-up.
no.19 * Supply Chain Gang: Five short stories of workers manufacturing parts for Maruti Suzuki, Honda and Hero Honda in Gurgaon
no.19 * Report on struggle of temp and casual workers at world’s biggest motor-bike factory Hero Honda in Dharuhera (Gurgaon/Manesar)
no.21 * Automobile Unrest and Jam in Gurgaon, Five Points related to the Rico Strike in October 2009 –
1) Rust belts, rural anger, new workers’ movement around the car? –
2) Rico and beyond: One month of automobile unrest in Gurgaon –
3) What crisis? – In what phase of the Indian automobile industry did the Gurgaon strike take place?
4) The terrific jam – We summarise two recent articles on traffic jams and road accidents in Gurgaon.
5) Video-Interviews with Gurgaon Automobile Workers
no.22 : * Rico-Strike and the Aftermath: When Capital wants to ‘De-Risk’… –
Report given by a permanent worker employed at Rico, plus unofficial Action at Napino Auto and Electronics Ltd
no.26: * Update on Struggles of Permanent Automobile Workers at Sanden Vikas and Exide –
The first-tier supplying industry of the automobile industry is heating up under the double pressure of increasing demand of the assembly plants on one side and the more confident claims of the workforce on the other.
no.1: “Missed Calls” –
Overview on Gurgaon Call Centre Sector
no.1: “Interviews with Call Centre Workers (HP, Citibank and others)”
no.2: “Techy Wage Increase” –
Unsuccessful attempt of wage increase by Gurgaon Call Centre Workers
no.4: “Extreme Outsourcing”-
Because of rising rents and wages and toll-taking highwaymen, some local call centres make use of internet cafes in order to outsource work; they speed-up the hiring process and put pressure on the less fortunate service workers.
no.8: “Made paranoid, kicked out, and crashed…” –
We document three short articles on occupational risks of call centre workers.
no.11: * Protest by call centre workers against dismissals, December 2007 and March 2008 –
The protests of call centre workers against dismissals and unpaid wages continue. In the case of Voicecraft “as the situation got worse, even the police rushed to the spot and intervened to defuse the crisis”.
no.13: * Hells Bells – Glimpses on Current Trends in Gurgaon’s Call Centre Sector
In August 2008 the newspapers announced the lay-offs of hundreds of call centre workers, many of them in Gurgaon. The reasons given for the job cuts are the recession in the US and the high costs for office rents. We summarised some news on the sector.
no.14 * BPO union or another form of individualisation of call center workers
no.22: * Hell’s Bells: Call Centre and Workers in Global Movement –
Interview with Convergys Call Centre Workers in Late Summer 2009
no.22: * From BPO to Riot – Proletarian Students in NOIDA clash with Police
no.2: “Death and Development” –
Short news on industrial accidents, road deaths, bomb alarms, serial killings and other achievements of development in Gurgaon and on its highways.
no.2: “Exploitation and the Law” –
Short glimpses of current conditions in various Faridabad factories, in the shadow of the official labour law (March 2007 issue of FMS)
no.3: “Whose security is it anyway?” –
Reports from Security Guards in Gurgaon, one of them employed by G4S, formerly known as Group4. The worker reports about the massive and open money swindle the company undertakes. Another guard reports why he had to work 48 hours without a break.
no.5: “Whose security is it anyway?, Part Two” –
Longer report of a retired skilled factory worker now employed by Haryana Industrial Security Service as a security guard. Published in FMS no.227, May 2007.
no.5: “Masters and Servants, Short note on rich men’s deaths” –
On the 19th of May a servant in Gurgaon killed his master and the master’s wife and child.
no.6: “How even the poorest worker can still make him(!)self feel like a boss” –
A rather clueless discription of domestic work and violence in a neighbour-hood in Gurgaon
no.7: “Working in the grave of Hauz Rani, a textile factory hidden in the cellar” – report from a textile worker, published in FMS no.229, July 2007. Ghost factories manufacture clothes for bigger companies in Gurgaon and Okhla, clothes which are then exported. In June/July 2007 some piece workers went on strike and enforced a piece rate increase.
no.7: “Working at Nutan Printers” – longer report of a print worker in the south of Delhi, published in FMS no.229, July 2007. The print-shop’s main client is the central government, the workers work 35 1/2-hours shifts.
no.7: “Injured!” – a mother tells about how a company tried to get rid of her son after he had been badly injured at work, published in FMS no.229, July 2007
no.8: Reports from workers exploited in the net of automobile suppliers, Local Automobile Industry Part Eight –
Some short reports from workers employed at Omax, Lumax, Delphi, Breaks India and Anu Industries, all suppliers for the local automobile industry in Gurgaon.
no.8: Three brothers –
Short discription of the long wage and house working days of three brothers who share a room in Gurgaon.
no.8: “Made paranoid, kicked out, and crashed…” –
We document three short articles on occupational risks of call centre workers.
no.9: * Thoughts on Gurgaon Kidney Trade and the local Medical-Industrial Complex, January 2007
no.9: * Short news item on police raids against ‘illegal’ migrant workers in Gurgaon, December 2007
no.10: * Long list of short information from workers employed in over 40 different companies in Gurgaon
Most of the reports do not show much more than the fact that the official legal working standards are not met. Most of the reports are from textile export factories, gathered in September and October 2007
no.10: * Short report from Motherson Sumi System Worker from Noida
no.10: * Short up-date on medical-industrial complex in Gurgaon
no.11: * Short letter sent by a female teacher to Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar, telling about wages and working times in schools around Delhi/Gurgaon
no.11: * Continuation of short reports. Most of the reports do not show much more than the fact that the official legal working standards are not met. Most of the reports are from textile export factories, gathered in January and February 2008
no.12: * Thread cutters, ironing workers, taylors, machine operators, assembly line workers for medical equipment or automobile parts, Coca Cola workers, security guards… – Continuation of short reports from workers employed at different companies in Gurgaon
no.12: * Book on working-conditions of women workers in Gurgaon and Noida
no.13 * Ten Construction Workers Die after Accident in Gurgaon
no.13 * Short Report from Orient Fan / Wal-Mart Worker
no.13 * Yet another list of short information from workers employed at different companies in Gurgaon – Continuation of short reports of workers from Achiever Creation, Elite Medical, Radnik Export, Rolex Auto, Viva Global, gathered and published in FMS, July 2008.
no.14 * Short Reports from Workers employed in factories in Gurgaon and Faridabad
no.14 * Global crisis hits Gurgaon
no.15 * Short Reports from Workers employed in factories in Gurgaon and Faridabad
no.15: * Crisis in Gurgaon
The two driving industries and symbols of Gurgaon’s urban development have come under crisis attack: DLF real estate giant asks for financial help from Haryana government and Maruti Suzuki scales down production output.
no.17: * Auto-biographic story of a 49 years old driver about his experience as a working-class Sikh in Delhi since the 1970s
no.17: * Math and Wrath of Misery – The workers’ reports tell us about average daily wages for workers in modern industries of about 100 Rs. This short note puts this wage in a context of daily expenditures
no.17: * Long list of short workers’ reports about wage and working conditions in Gurgaon factories.
no.17: * Proletarian Poverty and Common Wealth Games – After a deadly work accident on the huge Common Wealth Games construction site in Delhi workers struck and destroyed company property.
no.17: * On 1st of May 2009 the Lakhani shoe factory in Faridabad Sector-24 caught fire, six workers were killed, 30 more were injured severely.
no.18: * Lakhani Shoes Fire, the Unknown Deads and a Riot –
Some reports from local workers indicate that the official number of fifteen dead workers at Lakhani Shoes is untrue, it could be as many as 100.
no.18: * Rural-Urban Migration Reversed? –
Story of a factory worker who became unemployed in Gurgaon and Faridabad industrial areas, who decided to apply for a job with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) ‘back home’ in the village, and who found out that nothing is guaranteed.
no.18: * Short workers’ reports from Gurgaon industrial area –
Reports from workers collected during Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar distribution in Gurgaon, May 2009.
no.19 * Thermo Workers Power to Quit Work -_Short report by a worker who was employed on a site of the Rashtrya Taap Vidyut Nigam / NTCP (National Thermo-Electricity Corporation).
no.19 * Short report by older daily wage worker drudging for Food Corporation of India since 30 years
no.19 * Water Wars – Short glimpse on the waterfront. A dyeing worker reports on how water-wastage in the dyeing industry in the Delhi industrial belt is covered by police and officials. A friend from Faridabad tells us how water gets to his slum-area – followed by a description of how water supply expresses social hierarchies in a Gurgaon back-yard.
no.20 * Short workers’ reports from various factories in Gurgaon -_Reports were given to and re-distributed by Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar in June/July 2009. Most of the 22 reports are from textile export companies.
no.20 * The daily railway bad trip to work – Report by a worker about the conditions and an accident on his daily railway journey to work.
no.20 * Some Video-Interviews with Workers from Faridabad/Gurgaon now Online – You can find some interviews with workers from Faridabad/Gurgaon on http://www.visions-of-labor.org.
no.21 * 19 Short Workers’ Reports from Gurgaon Factories
no.21 * Summary of NGO-Study on Garment Workers’ Conditions in Gurgaon
no.21 * White Collar Blues – Short reports of workers employed by the post, in public transport, in the education sector and by the HDFC Bank in Gurgaon.
no.26 * Service?! What the hell! – Some voices of security guards and drivers, metal and textile workers. Some voices from workers looking for a job at corner labour markets, harassed by the police and other thugs.
no.2: “Commuter Riot” –
Fear on the highways, stress on the railways. Proletarian commuters causing a riot at Faridabad Old Station. From October 2006 issue of Faridabad Majdoor Samaachar (FMS).
no.5: “If you cut the power, we block the roads” –
Women in Old Gurgaon and Faridabad take power into their own hands and protest against water and electricity cuts. A short glimpse at the protest and about the electricity policies in Haryana.
no.5: “Riot and Looting at construction site of Reliance thermal power plant after road death” –
Short note on a riot which did not take place in Gurgaon, but Yamunanagar, both in Haryana, after a man was killed in a road accident.
no.15: * Building Workers’ Riot in Delhi
After a fatal accident on the Commonwealth Games construction site more than thousand building workers destroyed company offices, cars and trucks.
no.22: * From BPO to Riot – Proletarian Students in NOIDA clash with Police
no.2: “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part One” –
Economy times two in Gurgaon, short summary of recent newspaper articles on the planned SEZ.
no.3: “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Two” –
The developers face more resistance from local farmers and the nuisance of legal changes while trying to convert land ownership into capital.
no.5: “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Three” –
Some general thoughts on ‘Why SEZs?’, some news up-dates and a report from a free journalist attending a resistance meeting of farmers against the SEZ
no.7: “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Four” –
Short note on farmers threatening to commit suicide against land aquisition and short article on mass factory closures in Noida, which might be related to the re-concentration of capital in the Gurgaon, Manesar area
no.8: “Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Five” –
– Your backyard a SEZ? Short note on the inflation of SEZs in Gurgaon
no.9: * Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part Six –
– Summary on recent news items on the developing SEZ in Gurgaon
no.12: * 1,500 cops deployed in Gurgaon to secure the building of parts of the SEZ boundary wall
no.2: “Pressline Worker” –
Example of small but sucessful industrial action, trying to avoid the lock-out trap.
no.2: “Bicycle-Rikshaws and Strike at Liberty Shoe factory” –
Short chat with former Liberty Shoe worker and short news on last industrial dispute at Liberty Shoe factory, Haryana.
no.3: “Unions and the Law” –
A short introduction to the Industrial Disputes Act and some general thoughts on union-related local problems.
no.3: “Amtek Incident” –
Short report on a union struggle in the automotive supplying industry which happened in 2006. Permanent workers got bashed up by paid goons while the division between permanent workers and workers hired through contractors remained unharmed.
no.3: “Fashion Express” –
Permanent workers of the textile export company occupy the factory after union leaders got sacked.
no.4: “No more Heroes!”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Two –
Factory occupation and chain reaction of workers’ unrest at Hero Honda and Shivam Autotech factory in Gurgaon, April 2006. A rough overview of one of the most significant workers’ actions in the area during recent years.
no.6: “Delphi – Automobile Boom and Crisis against the workers”, Local Automobile Industry, Part Six –
The reports of a permanent worker and a worker hired through contractor also describe how a wildcat strike of the temps in January 2007 was finished off by a united front of management and permanent workers’ union.
no.7: “How to punish some and spread fear amongst thousands”, Local Automobile Industry Part Seven – A longer, sketchy overview on the situation at Honda Scooters and Motorcycles India (HMSI) factory in Gurgaon, from the repression in summer 2005 to the wildcat strike in September 2006 to the situation of workers hired through contractors today
no.8: “Successful wildcat strike of temp workers at Delphi in Gurgaon” –
In August 2007 the temp workers – not represented by any union – laid down tools again for few hours. The management first reacted by threatening with lock-out and closure of the plant, then decided to give the workers a significant pay rise.
no.8: “Welcome to the Machine” – Summary on re-structuring at Maruti Suzuki, Gurgaon, Local Automobile Industry Part Nine
The supply chains of Maruti are the main arteries of the local industry, they reach down into the backyards of the slums controling their labour intensive work by connecting it with work-shop production, semi-automatized small factories, capital intensive ‘first tier’ factories and the main assembly lines of its plants.
no.9: * Workers’ spontaneous actions enforce the payment of minimum wage in several factories
no.10: * Wildcat actions of workers struggling over the payment of the new minimum wage, September and October 2007
no.11: * Wildcat strike by casual workers employed by Eastern Medikit, Gurgaon, December 2007
no.11: * Police attack on striking casual workers at automobile parts manufacturer Automax, April 2008
no.12: * Three short stories of young workers on strike, Gurgaon-Faridabad industrial belt in spring 2008: strikes at Action Construction Equipment (ACE), a tractor manufacturer in nearby Faridabad, and at Ilpea Paramounts, a manufacturer of plastic and rubber parts for the automobile industry.
no.13 * Wildcat Sit-Down Strike at HMSI
Short news item on yet another short wildcat action by casual workers and workers hired through contractors at Honda HMSI.
no.13 * After wild-cat strike and mass-dismissals: Factory manager of automobile supplier in NOIDA got killed during workers’ unrest
no.14: * Different view on the strike and killing of the factory manager at Italian automobile supplier in NOIDA
no.14 * Yet another short wildcat strike at Hero Honda plant
After a short strike at Hero Honda in the Dharuhera plant in May 2008 and a wildcat sit-down by casual workers at Honda (HMSI) plant in Gurgaon/Manesar in September 2008, the news reported about another action early October 2008.
no.17: * Tecumseh Workers’ Report about re-structuring process and workers’ resistance at Tecumseh compressor manufacturing factory, formerly belonging to the multi-national Whirlpool.
no. 18: * Rebel Voices from Female Worker and Friends at Boni Polymers –
Woman Worker’s refusal to be victimised by the crisis in the automobile sector.
no.18: * Impressions from demonstration for locked-out and jailed Musashi workers –
The fate of many traditionally lead workers’ struggles in the area: first locked out, then locked-up.
no.18: * The upper-class is revolting –
Thin air on the top. The first half of 2009 saw various protests of the middle class: students at a management college and parents at private schools agitating about high fees and other forms of tighter selection processes.
no.19: * Report on struggle of temp and casual workers at world’s biggest motor-bike factory Hero Honda in Dharuhera (Gurgaon/Manesar)
no.20: * The Youth is Getting Restless / Hidden Struggles in Okhlas Textile
no.21: * The Youth is Getting Restless / Hidden Struggles in Okhlas Textile Factories, Part 2
no.21: * Automobile Unrest and Jam in Gurgaon, Five Points related to the Rico Strike in October 2009 –
no.22: * Rico-Strike and the Aftermath: When Capital wants to ‘De-Risk’… –
Report given by a permanent worker employed at Rico, plus unofficial Action at Napino Auto and Electronics Ltd
no.26: * Inflationary Proletarian Struggles –
While opposition parties arrange token protests against the price hikes, workers on the ground battle for higher wages.
no.26: * Update on Struggles of Permanent Automobile Workers at Sanden Vikas and Exide –
The first-tier supplying industry of the automobile industry is heating up under the double pressure of increasing demand of the assembly plants on one side and the more confident claims of the workforce on the other.
no.3: “Fashion Express” –
Permanent workers of the textile export company occupy the factory after union leaders got sacked.
no.4: “Needles and Threats”, Local Textile Industry, Part One –
A text on the local textile export industries, including Faridabad Majdoor Samaachaar reports from a young textile worker about his journey from village to industrial city life.
no.7: “Working in the grave of Hauz Rani, a textile factory hidden in the cellar” – report from a textile worker, published in FMS no.229, July 2007. Ghost factories manufacture clothes for bigger companies in Gurgaon and Okhla, clothes which are then exported. In June/July 2007 some piece workers went on strike and enforced a piece rate increase.
no.9: * Mass Redundancies in Gurgaon Textile Export Sector, Autumn 2007
no.9: * Up-date on Fashion Express Factory Conflict
no.10: * Long list of short information from workers employed in over 40 different companies in Gurgaon
Most of the reports do not show much more than the fact that the official legal working standards are not met. Most of the reports are from textile export factories, gathered in September and October 2007
no.11: * Female textile worker complains about verbal harassment by supervisor at Gaurav International, Gurgaon. Gaurav International is an Indian garment export house that works with major US companies like GAP & Wal-Mart.
no.14: * Never use a needle, summary of study on local textile export industries
no.19: * Worker who works his machine in various textile export factories -Short report from a worker who is shifted from factory to factory
no.20: * A nocturnal roof-top conversation: Skilled textile workers talk about changes in technology and work-organisation undermining their power
no.20: * The Youth is Getting Restless / Hidden Struggles in Okhlas Textile factories
no.21: * Summary of NGO-Study on Garment Workers’ Conditions in Gurgaon
no.21: * The Youth is Getting Restless / Hidden Struggles in Okhlas Textile Factories, Part 2
no.22 : * Garment Export Workers’ Reports and Escapist Hopes of the Export Regime
no.2: “Death and Development” –
Short news on industrial accidents, road deaths, bomb alarms, serial killings and other achievements of development in Gurgaon and on its highways.
no.3: “After the Slum Fire” –
Short note on a slum fire in Gurgaon, which destroyed about 800 huts of families of cleaning and recycling workers on 24th of April 2007. The first two days after the fire office bosses came down to the slum, asking why their offices kept on being dirty.
no.3: “Concrete on Soil: A Glimpse at Urban Development in Gurgaon, Part One” –
Some background information on population development, land acquisition, planned urban projects and the bubbling real estate sector in Gurgaon.
no.5: “The human fence post, the burried and the real estate boom, Another glimpse at urban development in Gurgaon, Part Two” –
DLF, one of the biggest private developers in India safe guards barren land against slum dwellers, the pavement-mafia in Gurgaon Udyog Vihar is part of the game and there are more deadly accidents in the rat-race of urbanisation.
no.5: “Drifting Social Whirlpool Chakkarpur” –
Some words about a 45 min stroll through convoluting/transforming Chakkarpur, a village in Gurgaon. The pictures and discriptions of the walk can be found on the web-site.
no.6: “Dig your own hole: A Glimpse at Urban Development in Gurgaon”, Part Three –
The article has a look at the relation between private developers and public institutions and the outcome for the making of the city Gurgaon.
no.11: * Village demolition by development authorities for industrial projects, April 2008 –
Under the protection of 100 policemen 50 houses in Gurgaon villages Koh and Kasan were demolished for ‘industrial purposes’. Unfortunately we only heard about it through the official media
no.11: * Dog restaurant opens in Gurgaon –
This is not about morality or sensation, but about the death-wishing ignorant arrogance of the ruling classes: while food riots spread across the globe and the local food prices in Gurgaon sore they open a luxurious dog restaurant right next to slums and industrial areas.
no.12: * City makes Countryside: On the background of the land-grab for the SEZ we summarise some articles on the changing class structure in the rural areas surrounding Gurgaon, Haryana.
no.13: * The Bloody Real Estate of Crisis
On 13th of August 2008 on a protest march in NOIDA, another satellite town of Delhi, several farmers were shot dead by the police and dozens got injured. If the protests in NOIDA and the demands for higher compensations are the rock of the current crisis of the real estate sector then the rising interest rates, the rising prices for construction material and the recession of the US economy is its hard place. A glimpse on the current crisis…
no.13: * Gated Communities and Repressive Social Paranoia
With the increasing spatial concentration of wealth and misery, of upward opportunities and downward spirals, those who feel privileged tend to feel threatened. In that way Gurgaon is a landscape of mass-psychosis. Some notes on the consequent urban armament: gated communities, increased repression in the local prisons, more CCTV, more police…
no.13: * Energy Crunch and Destructive Forces in Gurgaon
Maruti runs its own power-plant and in the way most of the factories and call centres in the industrial belt around Delhi do: burning fossil fuels in their generators. About 350,000,000 litre of diesel are consumed each year by these industrial units. A glimpse on the local energy crunch.
no.17: * Short summary about current real estate crisis in Gurgaon. The gold rush is over, the makers of neo-liberal bubble-town Gurgaon leave behind concrete-steel skeletons, tomb-stones of their unfinished business.
no.18: * Rural-Urban Migration Reversed? –
Story of a factory worker who became unemployed in Gurgaon and Faridabad industrial areas, who decided to apply for a job with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) ‘back home’ in the village, and who found out that nothing is guaranteed.
no.18: * One and a half years and a global crisis later… –
Rather subjective snap-shots about changes in and of Gurgaon, after a longer absence from the disaster-zone of progress.
no.18: * Babylon will fall eventually: Shaky Grounds of Gurgaon High Rise Real Estate –
The real estate sector in Gurgaon is not only shaken in its money-form, the weak foundation of its high-rising concrete-steel-glass form corresponds to the thin base of its inflated share-holder value.
no.19: * The Gurgaon Model and a Murder – Documentation of an older article on the legal adjustments which were undertaken in order to convert Gurgaon farm-land into real estate assets throughout the 1990s
no.19: * Water Wars – Short glimpse on the waterfront. A dyeing worker reports on how water-wastage in the dyeing industry in the Delhi industrial belt is covered by police and officials. A friend from Faridabad tells us how water gets to his slum-area – followed by a description of how water supply expresses social hierarchies in a Gurgaon back-yard.
no.20: * Future Deads for Sure – Town planners ignore the crumbling foundations of their high-rising buildings and they gamble with future dead by neglecting their own pathetic-helpless urban fire safety measures. A summary of a main-stream article on the issue.
no.21: * From Cluster to Class War – Summary of study “Gurgaon and Faridabad – An Exercise in Contrasts” by Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari
no.21: * Local War on terror and the Terror of the Labour Market – On security counter-insurgency and job reservation in Haryana
no.22: * The Real Estate of Urban Wasteland –
Public-Private Tsunami from Dubai to Gurgaon
no.22: * Accumulative Axis of Evil: Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor
no.22: * Mariginal Living, Marginal Deads – Slum demolition and
National Highway
no.26: * Waterwars, Energy Crunch and Revolting Villages – Groundwater levels in Gurgaon drop dramatically, gobbled up by industry and upper-middle class life-style.
GurgaonWorkersNews 
February 12, 2008 at 12:34 pm
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November 20, 2009 at 1:23 pm
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March 5, 2010 at 6:21 pm
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May 25, 2010 at 11:51 am
ROBOCOP, a new police official for Commonwealth Games 2010
DELHI HAS got a new police official ROBOCOP who is very much in news these days. With the Commonwealth Games round the corner and reports of constant terror threats, ROBOCOP is the new Mini Remote Operating Vehicles (MROV) that will help commandos in a hostage situation and even defuse bombs.
Canada based ICOR Technology manufactured robot, ROBOCOP can not only trace the explosive but lift it and put it in a Total Containment Vehicle (TCV), which is used for defusing bombs. This way, bomb squad personnel will not have to expose themselves to the explosives.
MROV has a robotic arm with a 5 degree movement including a turret, shoulder, elbow, wrist and claw joint. It can lift approximately 20 kgs and drag up to 130 kgs. The caliber T5 robot are used by Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams across the world and can also drag injured people to safety, climb stairs and negotiate rocky terrain. It has a maximum speed of 8 km /hr.
April 2, 2012 at 8:00 am
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