GURUGRAM: The attack on a company’s HR manager on Thursday, allegedly masterminded by a former worker who recently lost his job, raised questions both about the safety of executives and employment terms of
workers.
One of the things that has led to discontent among workers in the Manesar area, a huge automobile hub, is the recent trend of workers being rotated every six months. “This is a structural problem and there is a lot of anger among workers. Most industries prefer to hire workers at a young age, and they become unemployable after 8-10 years,” said Amit Akash, an activist. The six-month rotations, he added, was started by auto giants and has been emulated by others. “Earlier, some of them used to give a break for a few days. Now they just fire them and take a new batch.”
Rajkumar, the workers’ union president of a company in Dharuhera, said while contract workers are always at the risk of losing jobs, there is no security for
permanent workers either. “Companies come up with some reason or the other to fire them,” he said. “Despite approaching labour authorities, administration, and even courts, there is no respite,” he said.
Manoj Tyagi of the IMT Industrial Association said the attack has tarnished the reputation of Gurugram internationally and is bound to have a negative impact. Tyagi, though, admitted changes needed to be made to recruitment policies for a long-term solution to the problem. “It is not just industries but even government agencies which are carrying out recruitment through security agencies. Engineers are being paid minimum wages and made to work at the line without any regard to their health or economic security,” he said. “I have seen employees getting depressed as a result. They have to take care of their families and have no encouragement to work knowing they will be fired in a few months.”
Tyagi said the government has to come up with policies to encourage hiring of apprentices on the basis of performance. “Charity begins at home and the government has to first act at its own institutions to create a model which the industry can follow,” he said.