People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) Gurugram on the cross roads with Bellsonica, An Auto Components Industry
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People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) Gurugram on the cross roads with Bellsonica, An Auto Components Industry
Cancellation of Union’s Registration
The Haryana government’s labour department has cancelled the registration of the Bellsonica workers’ union over granting the membership to one of the ‘contractual workers’.
The letter refers to section 4 of the Trade Union Act 1926 to substantiate the cancellation of the union, which says that only the workers employed by the company are eligible to get union membership.
Erred in granting membership
The conflict arose at auto manufacturing company Bellsonica’s Manesar plant two years ago in 2021, when the Bellsonica Employees Union granted membership to a contractual worker named Keshav Rajput. The union provides two types of membership: an ‘ordinary membership’ to the company employees and an ‘honorary membership’ to a worker from another firm (per the union’s constitution). Rajput was a worker with Bellsonica and joined in as an ‘ordinary member’.
However, the management of the firm sent a letter to the Trade Union Registrar of Haryana and requested the labour department to cancel the union’s registration. Acting upon the letter, the labour commissioner cum registrar sought an explanation from the union in December 2022. The department determined the response of the union ‘unsatisfactory’, prompting the issuance of a formal ‘show cause notice’ to the union.
In response to the show cause notice, the union temporarily suspended the membership of the ‘contractual workers’ and submitted its response. Additionally, these workers filed the contractual workers and then approached the Punjab and Haryana high court against this decision. The matter is still pending in the court currently.
Mohinder Kapoor, former president of the Bellsonica Employees Union, who is currently on suspension, stated that the registrar’s decision was ‘unconstitutional’.
“The constitution gives the individual the right to unionise. The answers sought from the authorities were: when the workload and working hours of the permanent and contractual workers are the same, why should there be any difference in the rights of the contractual workers? Who is the labour department protecting here by passing such an order?”
Protest and submission of Memorandum
A protest that took place in Gurugram against this decision saw the participation of Maruti Suzuki workers across all plants, along with Bellsonica’s current and former (suspended) workers. The protest took place in the form of a rally, at the end of which the workers submitted a memorandum to the district commissioner demanding the registration of the union and a firm action against the trade union registrar.
A series of protests and suspensions have occurred at the Manesar plant of the Bellsonica firm. In a press conference organised by the workers earlier, it was alleged that the company has been trying to dismantle the union for a long time, and the labour department is complicit in the process.
Proprietary blog of Karma Global
Collated and Compiled by the internal staff of Karma Global with the knowledge and expertise that they possess, besides adaptation, illustration, derivation, transformation, collection and auto generation for its monthly newsletter Issue 17 of November 2023 and in case of specific or general information or compliance updates for that matter, kindly reach out to the Marketing Team – kush@karmamgmt.com / yashika@karmamgmt.com