The Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sangathan, the independent trade union of Bajaj Auto at Chakan near Pune, has demanded that each worker should be given 500 shares of the company at Rs 1 apiece as stock options, and that half the money the firm spends on corporate social responsibility (CSR) should be given to the workers. If these demands are not met, it has threatened a strike. The strike was earlier scheduled to start from Monday, but it has now been deferred by two weeks to give the management more time to consider and accept their demands. Last year, too, the union had demanded stock options, but the company argued it didn't give stock options even to its senior employees. This time around, the company has again rejected the demand. It also argues that the law does not permit it to spend CSR money on its own workers. Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj has said that he is ready to shut the unit for up to six months rather than give in.
Even as the tussle continues, the management claims that barely 30 to 50 of the 900 or so permanent workers have caused the current problem. If so, this is where the issue of trade union democracy comes in. While everybody laments the lack of corporate democracy in the country - how minority shareholders are exploited by promoters - the lack of democracy in unions is no less worrisome. In many countries, unions are required to hold a secret ballot before giving a strike call. In a secret ballet, all workers vote on whether or not they should go on strike, reduce production, down their tools or wear protest armbands. This rarely happens in India, although the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen conducted a secret ballot in January (over 96 per cent of the union's members took part and 90 per cent favoured a strike). But in most cases, union leaders act unilaterally. Unions have long accused businessmen of being unsympathetic to their cause; it is time they started worrying about their own undemocratic style of functioning.
In the Bajaj Auto case, the union has stymied a wage agreement that would have seen worker salaries go up by as much as Rs 10,000 per month. "While 99 per cent of the workers have no problem, the union has refused to endorse it," Mr Bajaj recently told this newspaper. This, if true, represents a worrying disconnect between the workers and the union leadership. Now, instead of a generous increase, the workers face an uncertain future as the company is prepared to dig in its heels. It has often been said that a multiplicity of unions at each factory has proved ruinous. As each union tries to outdo the others, many a unit has suffered prolonged labour strife and has downed shutters. Union credibility, already eroded by such problems, will only be further hurt by a lack of internal democracy. Strong, democratic unions are an important part of dealing with an economic slowdown. Making a strike ballot mandatory for strike calls would be a beginning for an effort to make unions more meaningful and responsible in the current context.
