The new plant of India´s biggest passenger car producer, Maruti Suzuki, saw two illegal strikes and wide-scale rioting in 2012. The causes of the conflict included the extension of contract labour, a higher work speed accompanied by real wage losses of 25%, since the early 2000’s, and a harsh work regime. Despite the events getting widespread attention they did not lead to a considerable change of labour relations in India.

The industrial city of Gurgaon, south of New Delhi, has seen an upswing of factory struggles since 2005. In that same year, workers at a Honda factory occupied their plant. In 2007, both the contract workers at Honda and India´s biggest motorcycle producer, Hero, saw major strike movements.

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Written by Jörg Nowak

Nowak holds a Phd in Political Sciences and worked as Visiting Professor at Kassel University in 2013. He currently works on his post doc research project on "Mass Strikes and State-Labour Relations in India, Brazil and South Africa".

Published by Global Labour Column and edited by CSID at Wits University.