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Maersk network wins Indian jobs after violent attacks on members
2 October 2007
UPDATE: Drivers' return to work delayed
5 October: Following the agreement reported here there has been a delay in the reinstatement of the Thakur drivers who were promised their jobs back. We are monitoring this situation and an official from the ITF’s Delhi office will travel to Mumbai on Monday to investigate.
The ITF Maersk Network, which ensures that workers’ voices are heard at the multinational transport group, has just won back the jobs of Indian workers sacked for protesting when their colleagues were beaten up.
Drivers reacted by calling a strike but the union persuaded them to return to work while talks were held with the companies. The companies, however, spurned the offer of negotiations and sacked 14 people. In at least one case the reason given was trade union activities.
The union helped by paying hospital bills for the beaten men and providing assistance with living expenses to their families, and one of its officials, PK Raman, raised the matter at the Maersk International Network meeting in Copenhagen on 24 April. While Maersk was not the direct employer it was clearly not happy that such a serious abuse of workers was happening in companies providing it with contract services.
Neither of the contractors would talk with the union. Nevertheless the TDWU persisted, while the Maersk Network Steering Committee communicated with senior management in Maersk’s APM Terminals headquarters in The Hague. They, in turn, were in contact with GTI in Mumbai, who agreed to use their influence to get the company to meet with the union. Finally, in June, Relogistics agreed a process for initially taking three drivers back into their jobs with a programme for the reinstatement of the six other dismissed workers. The union now has a good relationship with the company.
SC Thakur proved harder, refusing to even answer a phone call from the TDWU. The union and the ITF began preparations for a major campaign. Indian rail unions (GTI is also part-owned by CCC which is a part of Indian railways) offered support. Alerts were prepared for the ITF Maersk Network. Dialogue with Maersk/APM terminals continued. On 26 September the management of SC Thakur called the TDWU union office and agreed to the reinstatement of its five workers. The union insisted on a number of conditions to guarantee the workers’ safety and on Monday 1 October they reported for work.
According to Stuart Howard ITF Assistant General Secretary, “Contract workers are among the most vulnerable employees. Their work is vital to the operations of huge global companies like Maersk, but contracting out makes them easily expendable. They can be taken on and laid off almost at will. The local company that hires them often has little concept of basic employee rights or decent work standards. Yet their work helps make sure a Maersk container gets to its destination in good condition and on time. We believe that global companies should not be allowed to outsource their responsibilities for decent employee standards."
The union knows it still has a lot of work to do to protect its members. According to PK Raman of the TDWU, however, their ability to get these drivers their jobs back has boosted the confidence of contract workers in the port. He commented: “Our union recognised that when companies increasingly contract out, we must organise those workers too. We believe now that many other contract workers in the port will see that our union is prepared to fight for their rights and conditions and they will want to join us.”
In April truck drivers at Relogistics and SC Thakur Bros joined the Transport and Dock Workers Union (TDWU). Both companies move containers for the Maersk-owned Global Terminals India (GTI) in the port terminal in Mumbai. Five days later the company van carrying the union activists was diverted to a quarry where a gang of thugs was waiting to attack them. Others visited the homes of two other union activists, beat them up, ransacked their homes and threatened their families.
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