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INTRODUCTION
ASSAULT CASE
More than half of Bata's production came from the Batanagar factory in West
Bengal, a state notorious for its militant trade unions, who derived their
strength from the dominant political parties, especially the left parties.
Notwithstanding the giant conglomerate's grip on the shoe market in India,
Bata's equally large reputation for corruption within, created the perception
that Weston would have a difficult time. When the new management team weeded
out irregularities and turned the company around within a couple of years,
tackling the politicized trade unions proved to be the hardest of all tasks.
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On July 21, 1998, Weston was severely assaulted by
four workers at the company's factory at Batanagar, while he was attending
a business meet. The incident occurred after a member of BMU, Arup Dutta,
met Weston to discuss the issue of the suspended employees. Dutta
reportedly got into a verbal duel with Weston, upon which the other
workers began to shout slogans. When Weston tried to leave the room the
workers turned violent and assaulted him. This was the second attack on an
officer after Weston took charge of the company, the first one being the
assault on the chief welfare officer in 1996.
Soon after the incident, the management dismissed the three employees who
were involved in the violence. The employees involved accepted their
dismissal letters but subsequently provoked other workers to go in for a
strike to protest the management's move. Workers at Batanagar went on a
strike for two days following the incident. Commenting on the strike,
Majumdar said: "The issue of Bata was much wider than that of the
dismissal of three employees on grounds of indiscipline. Stoppage of
recruitment and continuous farming out of jobs had been causing widespread
resentment among employees for a long time."
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Following the incident, BSO decided to reconsider its investment plans at
Batanagar. Senior vice-president and member of the executive committee, MJZ
Mowla, said[1]: "We had chalked out a significant investment programme at
Batanagar this year which was more than what was invested last year. However,
that will all be postponed."
The incident had opened a can of worms, said the company insiders. The three
men who were charge-sheeted, were members of the 41-member committee of BMU,
which had strong political connections with the ruling Communist Party of India
(Marxist). The trio it was alleged, had in the past a good rapport with the
senior managers, who were no longer with the organization. These managers had
reportedly farmed out a large chunk of the contract operations to this trio.
Company insiders said the recent violence was more a political issue rather
than an industrial relations problem, since the workers had had very little to
do with it. Seeing the seriousness of the issue and the party's involvement,
the union, the state government tried to solve the problem by setting up a
tripartite meeting among company officials, the labor directorate and the union
representatives. The workers feared a closedown as the inquiry proceeded.
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
ADDITIONAL READINGS
[1]In
an interview to Business Standard on July 30, 1998.
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