The workers of Voltas Ltd (a Tata group company) led by their Union, Voltas Employees Union, have been undertaking a chain hunger strike for several months at the company head quarters in Mumbai to highlight their grievances.
The workers of Voltas Ltd (a Tata group company) led by their Union, Voltas Employees Union, have been undertaking a chain hunger strike for several months at the company head quarters in Mumbai to highlight their grievances.
As reported earlier in this paper, the workers are fighting against (1) contractualisation of work (2) attacks on the Union. The situation in Voltas is such that the number of people classified as workers is just a few thousand, in a company which directly or indirectly employees tens of thousands of people. There are many more workers classified as “management cadre" than are classified as workers. Furthermore, there are thousands of workers working on contract. All these measures are part of deliberate plan to ensure that the union is destroyed.
On August 16, 2011, hundreds of workers under the leadership of the Union marched to the Annual General Body Meeting of Voltas Ltd, to voice their protest. They came from different parts of the country from all the divisions of Voltas Ltd. The workers wore big badges on which their main demands were printed.
The workers of Voltas have decided to step up their agitation. They are extending the relay hunger strike from 12 hours to 24 hours everyday.