[Marxism] Indian CEO killed after confrontation with dismissed workers

[Ruthless Critic of All that Exists]

Indian CEO killed after negotiations with group of dismissed workers go awry
By Parwini Zora and Kranti Kumara
29 September 2008

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/sep2008/ind-s29.shtml

In the course of heated negotiations between a group of laid-off
contract workers and the management of Graziano Transmission India,
the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director,
Lalit Kishore Chaudhary, was killed Monday, September 22nd by a blow
to the head.

The circumstances surrounding Chaudhary's death have yet to be
clarified. There have even been suggestions that Graziano's business
rivals hired professional killers to pose as workers and foment a
confrontation that they could then use as a cover for a "hit."

But the corporate media was quick to label the incident a "lynching" by workers.

Two other senior Graziano managers suffered serious head injuries and
were initially listed as in critical condition. At least 10 workers
also suffered injuries in Monday's melee.

The Indian subsidiary of an Italian firm, Graziano had been compelled
by worker protests to agree to reinstate all but 15 of the 250
contract employees whom it had dismissed in June after they had staged
a sit-in demanding a salary raise and the status of permanent
employees.

Workers gathered outside the transmission factory last Monday, while a
small group of worker representatives went inside to meet with
management to discuss the fate of the 15 and contract details. The
company had earlier reneged on an agreement to provide a 3000 Rupees
($65) per month pay increase, by attaching conditions to the pay hike.

While the press has shown scant interest in the causes of the labour
dispute, the little information in their reports reveal that the
Graziano workers lived in constant fear of dismissal, were subjected
to frequent abuse, and were at times slapped or beaten for petty
infractions.

It is unclear why the workers waiting outside the factory last Monday
stormed inside. But there are several reports security guards fired
one or more shots. It has also been reported that the workers had
heard cries for "help" from within the factory.

The Calcutta-based corporate daily The Telegraph quoted a police
official as saying that "an attempt today to find a solution went
horribly wrong because of a gunshot by a security guard."

One of the workers, Avdesh, was quoted in The Hindustan Times as
saying: "The company asked us to write an apology letter saying we had
caused violence in the past which forced the lockout. This made me
furious and the gathered workers started protesting. However, we did
not kill the CEO."

Another worker Rajpal said: "We were demonstrating peacefully to get
our jobs back. Outsiders may have assaulted the CEO leading to his
death. Firing by the guards agitated workers and they clashed with
staff. Several workers, too, were injured."

Speaking Sunday outside the house of the deceased CEO, Samajwadi Party
General Secretary Amar Singh, who has a reputation for sensationalism,
said that the killing may have been organized by business rivals:
"Hired killers posing as workers may have entered the factory and
committed the murder."

In a draconian response all too familiar to the Indian working class,
the police responded to Monday's events with a dragnet. They swooped
in and arrested 136 workers, charging 63 of them with "murder" and
another 73 with "breach of peace".

Big business meanwhile responded with apprehension, demanding that the
state take immediate action to ensure such events never are repeated.

When Labour Minister Oscar Fernandez, in a rare display of candour,
suggested that management should take a warning from these events,
India's business elite and the media went ballistic. [clipped]