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Page context: Home > Transport International Magazine > Issue 20 July 2005 > Enter the hit squads > Strong arm tactics in port of Mumbai
by Sangam Tripathy
In December 2004 the Transport and Dock Workers’ Union organised 90 drivers, cleaners and other workers of Total Transport Company, a transport subsidiary of an established stevedore company operating in Mumbai port.
The union sent a letter to the employer requesting recognition and a date for negotiations over wages and service conditions. Furious at the move, the employer deployed hirelings of a suspected local mafia don and a scuffle between the workers and union activists on one side and the hired goons ensued.
When the union went to lodge a complaint with the police they found that the company had already filed a first information report (FIR) against the union activists, alleging they started the fight. Subsequently up to 10 workers including union activists were taken into custody. “The union got them released the next day, but the company refused to take them back, and it was also a set back to our organising efforts”, says PK Raman, secretary of the section.
It wasn’t the union’s first encounter with union-busting mafia. “This same don tried to gain a foothold in the port in 2003,” says Raman. “He even managed to get one of his hirelings to stand for union elections and get elected as a vice president of the transport section.” He had secretly promised the company that he would bust union activities and offered protection to the employers for a price. “Additionally they planned to secure dock entry permits and provide employment to their gang members, as casual transport workers.”
The union managed to counter these threats, despite the intimidation of its leaders. Members were cautioned about what was going on, and the vice president failed in his bid for re-election the following year.
Shortly after the organising campaign in December 2004, the private security firm hired by Total Transport took up a fight with some of the workers as they were entering the port premises. The company officer ordered that these workers be handed over to port security. This agitated their 75 odd co-workers inside the port, who decided to strike in support of their comrades.
The company retaliated and petitioned the port authorities that the dock entry permits of all 75 workers be invalidated. “We in turn complained to the port authorities and asked them to be just and fair in dealing with the case,” says Raman. “Instead, they allowed the company to work under a sister company’s name and apply for fresh dock entry permits for new workers.”
The union is still fighting the case for the 85 in total dismissed workers. “It’s been four months and we are still stuck with conciliation proceedings. Meanwhile the workers remain out without work,” says Raman.
Section home:
Issue 20 July 2005
Other pages for Issue 20 July 2005:
Comment: Fighting Back and Winning | ITF launches new global website | Value for money | Protecting our waterfront | The fight for true democracy | This is why we joined a union | Transport goes transnational | From wellhead to wheel | Competition gone mad | Putting the seafarer first | Driving change in Kurdistan | End this railway nightmare | We can help to defeat poverty | Readers’ thoughts on poverty | Working life
Other pages for Enter the hit squads:
Anti-unionism in Illinois | Know your rights!
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