Editor's Note: Although this article written by elitist mouthpiece Reuters contends that labor laws are to blame for the violence that is common in Indian industry (and in China), the fact remains that working conditions in Indian factories are not much better than in the sweatshops of 18th century Britain. Conditions in China are similar; this is the reason why when a nation enforces Labor laws that do favor workers, multinationals pack up and leave town, which is what has been happening since the 1990's. After setting up shop in Caribbean countries like Jamaica, multinationals found that the conditions were not slavish enough, so they moved to Mexico, and from Mexico to South America to China to India to Vietnam to Cambodia and so on and so forth. It is the bloodsucking practices of these Corporate behemoths that desire excessive profit for their Executives above all that lead to eruptions such as that at the Suzuki plant in India. After all it is the workers that make excessive profits possible for the executives; the real cost of labor that should be added to the price and would make the goods much more expensive, and therefore less profitable, is reduced to a mere fraction. This is why Nike shoes that cost $5 to make in Cambodia are sold for $150 in the US and the executives pocket the profits rather than pay the workers a decent living wage. Female factory workers in Nike factories in Cambodia have to sell their bodies on the side just to earn enough to survive. This is the truth about all Multinational corporations and the real reason why they set up shop in slave labor countries from Mexico to China and India, and are now exploring setting up shop in the last remaining place on Earth with a large pool of possible slave labor, which is Africa! Slaves need at least a subsistence wage, and as multinationals refuse to pay even such levels of wages, look for more violent protests to erupt in both India and China.
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By the end of the day, one of his colleagues had been burnt to death and dozens wounded, many with broken bones, as a long-running struggle between the shop floor and management exploded at a factory racked by mistrust.
While police investigate and the carmaker counts its mounting losses, the July 18 clash has rattled corporate India and shone a light on outdated and rigid labor laws in a country where cheap labor drives manufacturing and draws foreign investment. High inflation, a shortage of skilled labor and rising aspirations have emboldened workers' demands.
"There was always a strong sense of unease," Kumar, 43, told Reuters as he stood outside the locked factory gates more than a week after the riot in the industrial town of Manesar.
"We are living in fear... The kind of violence these guys showed was unbelievable."
Other foreign carmakers, such as Hyundai and Honda, have seen labor unrest at their Indian plants in recent years, and industry groups have renewed calls for the government to overhaul laws they say tie their hands.
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