WORKERS across trade union affiliations, came out on streets in hundreds of cities, industrial centres, district headquarters and even in rural areas and demonstrated in support of the Maruti Suzuki workers at the call of the central trade unions, on April 5. 
In a massive meeting attended by members of the central trade unions as well as more than 55 unions in the industrial belt of Gurgaon and Rewari in Haryana, national leaders of the central trade unions – CITU, AITUC, INTUC, HMS, AICCTU, AIUTUC, TUCC and UTUC attended. The meeting was addressed by Tapan Sen, general secretary of CITU and MP, DL Sachdeva, secretary AITUC, Harbhajan Singh Sidhu, general secretary, HMS, Satvir Singh, CITU Haryana, Satyavan, AIUTUC, apart from the leaders of the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union.
The CTUs expressed their concern at the employer-administration-judiciary nexus which resulted in the sentence of life to 13 workers and of five years jail to another four workers of Maruti Suzuki in connection with the violence plotted by the management in the Manesar plant of Maruti in 2012. In the same judgment, 117 workers were acquitted and 14 workers let off with sentence to the period they were in jail.

More than 546 regular and 2000 contract workers were thrown out of their jobs and 148 workers were thrown into jail for up to four and half years.

The violence in 2012 in which a general manager of the factory was killed was the handiwork of hired musclemen of Maruti Suzuki management meant to create the ground for crushing the unions. Despite in no way being responsible for the incident, the workers have been convicted on the basis of concocted evidence manufactured by the state administration, police and employer nexus in a shameless abuse of power.
 The government which is supposed to protect the rights of the workers and citizens in the court of law demanded death sentence to the innocent Maruti workers under the garb of ‘inviting investment”.
In Haryana, demonstrations were held in every district headquarters in which thousands of workers participated.

A demonstration was held in front of Haryana Bhavan in New Delhi in which the leaders of the CTUs addressed. A memorandum was submitted to the chief minister through the resident commissioner. 
Demonstrations were also held in different places of the country.

The main demands to the government are as follows:
 1. To leave the path adopted hitherto and see that the trade union rights of the workers are not trampled.
2. Ensure bail of the sentenced workers and fight for justice of the workers in the higher court. Shun the earlier stand of the administration in the name of ‘investment’.
3. 117 workers who are set free by the court; 546 permanent and 2000 temporary workers who were illegally terminated from Maruti Suzuki, Manesar should be taken back on the job.
4. The Maruti management who have victimised the workers unlawfully should be booked. 
5. Abolish the contractualisation of jobs for the perennial nature of work.
6. Supreme Court orders dated October 26, 2016 for equal pay and other benefits for equal work should be enforced forthwith.
7. Anti-worker amendments to the labour laws in the state should be withdrawn forthwith.

WFTU Solidarity for the Maruti Workers

THE World Federation of Trade Unions, representing 92 million workers in five continents, expresses its dissatisfaction and denounces the sentence of life to 13 workers and of five years jail to four more workers of Maruti Suzuki, regarding the incident of violence in the Manesar plant of Maruti in 2012. The violent incident in 2012, is plotted by the management of the factory, through the hiring of musclemen in order to crush the trade unions and the workers who were fighting for their rights. The convicted workers are not responsible for the incident in which a general manager of the factory was killed. The WFTU is greeting the demonstrations and the initiatives on April 5, expressing  the trade unions solidarity and demanding the unconditional release of the Maruti workers and reinstatement of dismissed workers.