Repression Of Maruti Suzuki Workers Continues
By Maruti Suzuki Workers Union
28 May, 2013
Countercurrents.org
Our spirit of struggle has been further tempered in the hearth of repression. We are resolute to continue our struggle against the Maruti Suzuki management and Haryana government’s collusion with it, even as the Haryana police administration came down with brutal force to break our 57-day long dharna in Kaithal on 18-19th May and put 111 of us behind bars.
When we were being taken to Kaithal Jail and even inside it this week, we sang ragnis and songs of freedom and struggle in the face of this repression. Four of us were kept in solitary confinement to pressurize us, but for two days from 18th May, we staged a hunger strike inside the Kaithal Jail to demand our rights and pledged to renew our struggle. In this spirit, we have decided to hold a protest demonstration and indefinite dharna from 1st June 2013 on, against the repressive actions of 18-19th May, in Kaithal and appeal to all pro-worker and democratic forces to join us in our struggle. We will also go ahead with our demands of release of 147 workers in Gurgaon Jail, the reinstatement of terminated workers and quashing of the case against the 11 workers and activists lodged in Kaithal Jail.
After the arrests of 100 workers and activists and uprooting of our dharna site by the brute force of thousands of Haryana police personnel on the night of 18th May and 19th May morning, we saw our fellow workers, family relatives and supporters and activists who were staging a peaceful democratic protests face brutal lathi-charge, water cannon and tear gas on the evening of 19th May in front of the barricades near the residence of the R.S. Surjewala, the Haryana Industries Minister. Our parents and old women and men, were seriously injured, and 11 workers and activists have been arrested including Provisional Working Committee, MSWU member Ramniwas Kush, the advisor to our union and Gen Sec of Hindustan Motors SSKUnion Deepak Bakshi, local panchayat leader Suresh Koth and Kaithal municipal councilor Premchand under ridiculous charges of attempt to murder and many other non-bailable offences.
From 20th May on, the securities to be shown for bail-bond was set at Rs.40000 each for the 100 workers and activists, which is clearly with the intention of harassing us through all possible means. On 22nd May, the bail application in the Chandigarh High Court for 16 of the 147 workers in jail since 18th July 2012 has been rejected and the case dismissed. We believe all evidence continues to clearly show our innocence and the management’s complicity in the incident of 18th July 2012, and its malicious intent to punish us for raising our voice for our fundamental right of freedom of association to form a Union and against the contract worker system. We are thus being subjected to repression not only in the form of police baton charges, but also through the corrupt channels of injustice. The same government which declares us criminals without any investigation, baton charges and arrests us to crush our questions on its jobless growth model, spends Rs.1.43 crores on the special public prosecutor in just 8 months as a RTI has shown.
Against all this combined repression by the government administration police and the legal system which refuses to give us justice, we are resolved to struggle. Our friends and comrades and toiling masses throughout the country have lend us support, as the protest demonstrations have showed. Yesterday 27th May 2013, the joint trade unions of Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal showed their solidarity by protesting in front of the Gurgaon DC office against the police repression on our struggle on 18-19th May in Kaithal and submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Haryana. This includes factory unions like Maruti Gurgaon MUKU, Suzuki Powertrain, Suzuki Bike, Honda, Hero Motorcorp, Rico Dharuhera, FCC Rico Manesar, Munjal Showa, Omax Auto, Satyam Auto, Endurance, Lumax Auto, Napino Manesar Union as well as central trade Unions like HMS, AITUC, CITU, AIUTUC, and others. Similar demonstrations are been organized daily in solidarity in Delhi on 19th and 20th May by various organizations in front of Haryana Bhavan and Jantar Mantar and in front of the CM Haryana house, in Kolkata on 27th May where all struggling trade unions organized a joint rally of over 1500 people in front of Maruti regional office, in Patna, in Punjab and across the country in various places.
We appeal to all workers, trade unions, pro-worker and democratic forces and individuals to continue to show solidarity by joining us on 1st June 2013 in Kaithal, Haryana in the protest demonstration and dharna by MSWU and stage solidarity actions in the coming days as we intensify our movement
Inquilab Zindabad!
Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad!
Provisional Working Committee
Maruti Suzuki Workers Union
http://marutisuzukiworkersunion.wordpress.com/
Comments are moderated
