[AUT] Gurgaon Workers News 2

["Antonia Mautempo" <antoniamautempo@xxxxxxx>]

-- please circulate further --

Gurgaon Workers News - Newsletter 2 (April 2007) 

Gurgaon in Haryana is presented as the shining India, a symbol of capitalist success promising a better life for everyone behind the gateway of development. At first glance the office towers and shopping malls reflect this chimera and even the front facades of the garment factories look like three star hotels. Behind the facade, behind the factory walls and in the side streets of the industrial areas thousands of workers keep the rat-race going, producing cars and scooters for the middle-classes which end up in the traffic jam on the new highway between Delhi and Gurgaon. Thousands of young middle class people lose time, energy and academic aspirations on night-shifts in call centres, selling credits to working-class people in the US or pre-paid electricity schemes to the poor in the UK. Next door thousands of rural-migrant workers uprooted by the agrarian crisis stitch and sew for export, competing with their angry brothers and sisters in Bangladesh or Vietnam. And the rat-race will not stop, at the outskirts of Gurgaon Indias biggest Special Economic Zone is in the making. The following newsletter documents some of the developments in and around this miserable boom region. If you want to get to know more about working and struggling in Gurgaon, if you want more info about or even contribute to this project, please have a go at: 

www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com
gurgaon_workers_news@xxxxxxxxxxx

For this and following newsletters we want to introduce four different categories of texts which should make it easier to trace back certain developments. 

1) Proletarian Experiences -
Daily life stories and reports from a workers' perspective
2) Collective Action -
Reports on proletarian struggles in the area
3) According to Plan -
General information on the development of the region, certain company policies 
4) About the Project -
Up-Dates on Gurgaon Workers News

Most of the texts in this issue display the dark-side of the boom. A deeper analysis of the more hopeful recent struggles of temp workers at Hero Honda, Honda Manesar (HMSI), Delphi and the dynamic work-force composition within the new industrial areas is still to come. 

1) Proletarian Experiences

Death and Development -
Short news on industrial accidents, road deaths, bomb alarms, serial killings and other achievements of development in Gurgaon and on its highways.

Factory and Police Station -
Recent story by metal worker from Faridabad, told to FMS.

Exploitation and the Law -
Short glimpses of current conditions in various Faridabad factories, in the shadow of the official labour law (March 2007 issue of FMS) 

Glossary  -
Glossary on welfare policies, wages and prices.

2) Collective Action

Pressline Worker -
Example of small but sucessful industrial action, trying to avoid the lock-out trap.

Bicycle-Rikshaws and Strike at Liberty Shoe factory - 
Short chat with former Liberty Shoe worker and short news on last industrial dispute at Liberty Shoe factory, Haryana.

Commuter Riot -
Fear on the highways, stress on the railways. Proletarian commuters causing a riot at Faridabad Old Station. From October 2006 issue of Faridabad Majdoor Samaachar (FMS). 

Techy Wage Increase -
Unsuccessful attempt of wage increase by Gurgaon Call Centre Workers

3) According to Plan

Not yet special enough: Special Economic Zones, Part One -
Economy times two in Gurgaon, short summary of recent newspaper articles on the planned SEZ. 

Corporate Watch -
Recent news on multi-national companies in Gurgaon.

4) About the Project

Short Presentation of Gurgaon Workers News

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