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| Latest News - HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS WORLDWIDE |
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Here's the evidence, now Maersk must act |
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Saturday, 13 February 2010 |
 The ITF Friday supplied Møller-Maersk with further proof for its assertion that for years one of its subcontractors in India has got away with violent attacks on its workers, and demanded that the Danish multinational finally sever its ties with the company.
The global union federation first told the shipping and ports giant last
November that it was time to repudiate the thuggish subcontractor it
believes to be behind the repeated assaults. Maersk’s response then was
that should the accusations be proved then it would do so. An
independent report passed by the ITF to the company today provides
strong evidence to suggest that the accusations can indeed be proven,
and dramatically underlines Maersk’s failure to carry through on its
promises.
ITF Assistant General Secretary Stuart Howard commented: “We’ve heard
the excuse that not enough was known about the attacks. This is now
untrue. This case has dragged on for three years. Maersk has no choice
but to act. Immediately.”
“Maersk’s continuing relationship with this company has to end. It is
totally unacceptable, it is incompatible with Maersk’s status as a
signatory to the UN Global Compact and it is, frankly, pretty disgusting
on human grounds. No matter how powerful and well connected SC Thakur
is, Maersk have to be brave, grasp the nettle and tell them their
relationship is over.”
At the end of last year the ITF, backed by Indian trade unions, demanded
that the company sever all relations with SC Thakur, which it believes
is behind three bloody assaults culminating in the latest attacks on
October 23rd 2009, when three members of the TDWU (Transport and Dock
Workers’ Union) were beaten by Thakur supervisors. The victims had all
made court depositions regarding the company’s failure to pay their
provident fund (social security/pension) contributions. They were also
told to leave the union. As with previous attacks, reports have been
made to the police, to Thakur and to Maersk subsidiary GTI (Gateway
Terminals India). The police have consistently failed to take any
effective action.
The violence began in April 2007 when four drivers employed by SC Thakur
were abducted and severely beaten. When other union members went on
strike in support of the hospitalised colleagues they were sacked,
apparently as a result of their action. Following dialogue between
Maersk and the ITF the workers were reinstated, but the violence
continued in a further incident, when allegations came to light that
Thakur thugs beat workers with hockey sticks and steel rods on a company
bus to persuade them to join a ‘yellow’ (ie company-run) trade union.
An ITF mission to the area compiled evidence of the attacks and
intimidation, and handed this over to the company, police, and
government, in which the locally powerful Thakur family are involved. A
Danish parliamentary delegation also met with the TDWU in March 2009.
The ITF additionally commissioned an independent human rights report
(Chronicle of Violence, attached with this press release), which it made
available to Maersk during negotiations that it was hoped would resolve
the issue, and the further report (Alleged Assault of Contract Workers
Engaged Through M/S Thakur Infraproject PVT Ltd at GTI on 23.10.2009 )
that has been given to the company today, and which appears in full
below:
ALLEGED ASSAULT OF CONTRACT WORKERS ENGAGED THROUGH M/S THAKUR
INFRAPROJECT PVT.LTD AT GTI on 23.10.2009
Pursuant to the request made by ITF, we on behalf of ICHRL conducted an
enquiry into the assault of two workers, namely Mr. Dhanaji N. Jadhav
and Mr. Bhausaheb Kiswe on 23.10.2009 at Jessai Village allegedly by
officers of M/s Thakur Infraproject Pvt.Ltd operating at GTI. We also
inspected the necessary records of the P.F. Commissioner’s office,
Police Station and the Labour Commissioner’s office.
ICHRL Report dated 20.12.2009 regarding union membership
There are about 110 employees employed through M/s Thakur Infraproject
Pvt.Ltd who perform the work of drivers at GTI. In the year 2008 about
102 drivers were employed Majority of the workers had joined Transport
and Dock Union (TDWU) as the investigation carried out by ICHRL on 20th
December, 2008 shows. The management of both Thakur Infraproject Pvt
Ltd and GTI had refused to negotiate with TDWU but had negotiated a
settlement with Navi Mumbai General Kamgar Sanghatana (NMGKS) without
first verifying the membership of both the Unions. The members of TDWU
are regularly being threatened by the management to resign from TDWU.
This was the complaint made by the workers when we interviewed them on
2.12.2008. Since the management was disputing the membership of TDWU
and was claiming that the said Union had no membership it was decided
by Maersk and ITF in London that an inquiry would be conducted into
the Union membership in M/s Thakur Infraproject Pvt.Ltd and three other
contractors.
On behalf of ICHRL a report dated 20th December, 2008 was submitted and
the investigation found that TDWU had majority support amongst workers
engaged through the four contractors. It appears that ever since then
the management of M/s Thakur Infraproject Pvt.Ltd has been trying to
pressurize the workers to resign from TDWU, which the workers have
refused to do. This has been brought to our notice in the subsequent
interviews conducted by us of some workers after the alleged assault.
Background of Ms THakur Infraproject Pvt.Ld
M/s Thakur Infraproject Pvt.Ltd. is a Pvt. Ltd company promoted by Mr.
Ramsheth Thakur who is a former member of Parliament and a prominent
figure of Congress Party in Raigad, Maharashtra. His son, Mr. Prashant
Thakur was recently elected as an MLA on the ticket of Congress Party.
He was formerly the mayor of Panvel Municipal Corporation. Mr Ramseth
Thakur has a vast business empire in Raigad, which include civic
contracts and Public Works Department (PWD) contracts, Infraproject
contracts including Transport Contracts. It is alleged that most of
these contracts which involve crores of public money have been awarded
without any public auction. According to various newspaper reports and
persons residing in the area who were interviewed, Mr. Ramsheth Thakur
has a strong political influence in the area and a large share of
civic, infraproject and transport contracts are awarded to him . Large
scale stone quarrying in and around Navi Mumbai is carried out and
several Petitions in this regard are pending before the High Court at
Bombay. He is the group Chairman of about 250 contract firms vesting him
with enormous financial and political clout. He is a trustee of the
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and has been continued as a trustee
on the newly constituted Trustee Board of the JNPT. His flagship company
M/s Thakur Infraproject Pvt.Ltd is an accredited 1SO company. Not only
does he wield economic power through his various companies but has
control over the workers working on various projects through his unions
which decide the terms and conditions of service. Their main union is
Navi Mumbai General Kamgar Sanghatana (NMGKS).
Working conditions
During the investigation, ICHRL also found that provisions of various
laws were not being complied with by the four contractors particularly
M/s Thakur Infraproject Pvt.Ltd. This conclusion is also based upon the
documentary evidence supplied to us by not only GTI but also various
authorities under this law. The violations are as under:
i)No proper muster and salary registers furnishing details of names of
employees, dates of appointment salary etc were maintained.
ii) No salary slips giving details of gross salary with deductions for
P.F, ESIC, etc were provided to workers.
iii) No benefits and facilities as mandated under the contract Labour
Act are extended to the workers.
iv) The workers are required to work 12 hours daily without payment of
overtime. There are only two shifts of 12 hour each.
v) No PF slips are provided and PF contributions are not being paid.
vi) Many of the provisions under the Contract Labour Act and other
labour legislations are being violated;
Interviews with workers
The workers who were allegedly assaulted were interviewed along with
their families during the period October, 2009 to January,2010 along
with some other workers employed with Thakur Infraproject Pvt. Ltd who
did not wish to be identified for fear of reprisal and victimisastion.
Their names have therefore not been disclosed. The narration by the
workers and the two workers assaulted of the sequence of events leading
to the assaults is almost the same. The two workers who were allegedly
assaulted and their colleagues have in the interviews explained the
motive for the alleged assaults. They are as under:
Complaint of Non-payment of contribution to PF authority.
With regard to the non-payment of Provident
Fund
contribution to the P.F authorities by S.C.Thakur, a complaint was made
to the Employees Provident Fund Organization sub regional office, Vashi
by T.D.W.U. Based upon the said complaint a summons was issued to TDWU
by notice dated 25.6.2009 to remain present at the PF office along with
10 to 15 workers. Pursuant to the said notice the Secretary of the TDWU
Mr.Raman and Mr.Ashok Bote Patil along with 31 workers appeared before
the Regional P.F. Commissioner on 15.7.2009. At the hearing 27 workers
deposed against the company. At the hearing Mr. Jude A.P.D’Souza Sr.
Manager-Human Resources and Mrs Gazale Farroqui Manager –HR on behalf of
the GTI were also present. This is evident from the inspection of the
records and the roznama (Daily order sheet).We were told by the workers
that they had informed the PF Commissioner that earlier 67 employees had
registered a complaint on 16.7.2008 and soon thereafter the services of
27 employees had been terminated for demanding their statutory
benefits. This is evident from the correspondence shown to us and the
minutes of the hearing before the Regional P.F. Commissioner.
At the hearing the Union representative expressed fear that the services
of those who appeared before the Commissioner would be similarly
terminated. The proceedings under section 7 A of the P.F. Act have been
recorded in the Daily order sheet dated 15.7.2009, which has been
inspected. We have also gone through the correspondence exchanged
between TDWU and the P.F. office, and it was found that by letter dated
19th August, 2009 TDWU reiterated their apprehension that the services
of the workers who had deposed before the P.F. Commissioner would be
terminated. It was stated that their apprehension was borne out by the
fact that 27 workers who had deposed on 15th July,2009 were denied
booking and have since been kept idle. The workers we interviewed
confirmed the fact that 27 workers had deposed on 15th July, 2009 and
that soon thereafter they were prevented from reporting for work. In
order to doubly confirm this, we asked the workers if we could confirm
this from the workers themselves. We thereafter met the affected workers
and further confirmed the above.
Incident of 23rd October,2009.
• Assault of Mr. Bhausaheb Kiswe
After completion of duty on 23.10.2009 Mr. Bhausaheb Kiswe working as a
driver at GTI through M/s Thakur Infraproject returned home. As
confirmed in a statement by his wife, Mrs. Sushali Bhausaheb Kiswe, Mr.
Kiswe was sleeping when, at 2:40pm, Mr. Kailash Koli and Mr. Rajendra
Mhatre, supervisors of M/s Thakur Infraproject Pvt.Ltd entered his house
since the door was open while another man waited outside. Mr. Kiswe’s
two children Sakshi about 3 ½ years and Sanhita about 2 years old were
playing outside. Mr. Koli and Mr. Mhatre started mercilessly assaulting
Mr. Kiswe in front of his wife. During the assault – in which he was
beaten about the legs, stomach and head - the two supervisors kept
threatening him with dire consequences if he did not resign from TDWU.
They also told him that he and his family would have to suffer for
daring to lodge a complaint before the Regional Commissioner, P.F . His
cries could be heard by his two children who came inside to see what was
happening. The kids started crying and asked their mother why the two
men were beating their father. Sushali did not know what to do and tried
to protect her husband. However, as soon as the two men found that he
had become almost unconscious they left. She then gave him some water
and dressed his wounds. She told us she had just come from her village
in July,2009 and was new to the area. All the men in the neighbouring
rooms had gone to work. Her immediate neighbour had gone to his
village along with his family and the room was locked. After Mr.
Kiswe gained consciousness she insisted that he should not go to
outside the house. His shift was at 7.00 p.m. However, he decided to
go to Jassai Police Station which is about 15 minutes from his house.
He informed us that on his way to the Police Station he called Mr.
Dhanaji Jadhav a colleague of his working in the same company as a
driver and told him about the incident. Mr. Jadhav joined him on the
way and they together went to the Police Station. At the Police Station
he informed a police constable about the incident who then went and
personally visited his house. Mr. Kiswe finally managed to lodge a
complaint at the Jessai Police station. According to Sushali around 1½
hours after the attack a police constable came to her house and asked
her whether her husband had been assaulted to which she answered in the
affirmative. The constable then gave her his cell number and told her
to contact him whenever she or her husband required any help. After
registering his complaint, Mr. Kiswe returned home just as the constable
was leaving.
• Assault on Mr. Dhanaji N.Jadhav
Mr. Jadhav lives with his wife and 3 children Priyanka 8 years, Suraj 7
years and Pooja 4 years in a small room on the first floor of a chawl
with 10 rooms
After lodging the Complaint of his colleague, Mr Jadhav returned home
and sat down to eat dinner at about 8.00 p.m. along with his wife and
three children. As they were eating he received a phone call and he told
his wife that he was going down to meet someone. He went downstairs
and saw Mr. Kailash Koli and Mr.Rajendra Mhatre standing near his
building. As soon as he approached them they pounced on him and started
assaulting him with a belt. In the process his phone fell. While
assaulting him they told him to resign from the Union and then started
flogging him with a belt. There was no one in the vicinity whose help
he could take. When the two supervisors saw that Mr.Jadhav was about to
collapse they left him. He had no shirt on his back and he was
bleeding. He managed to get up and went towards his house on the first
floor. There were no neighbours present nearby. Two of the rooms next
to his room were locked and all the men had gone to work. His wife saw
that his back and right finger were bleeding. She dressed his wounds.
His wife Rekha Dhanajee Jadhav told us that when she saw her husband
she was shocked and terrified. She asked him what had happened and he
told her that he had been assaulted with a belt, by the two supervisors
of his company. While she was dressing his wound her elder daughter came
into the room and asked her father what had happened. He told her that
he was fine and that he had just had a minor accident. He told his wife
that he was going to the Police Station. She therefore accompanied him
downstairs when they saw that the two persons were still standing there.
As soon as they saw the husband and wife they left the premises. Both
of them searched for the phone and found it nearby. Mr. Jadhav told us
that he went to the Police Station but the Officer in charge refused to
register his complaint. He therefore contacted the office bearer of the
union Mr. Bote Patel on phone who then reached the spot after sometime
and it was only thereafter that the complaint was registered late at
night. We specifically asked both the workers whether they had any
personal enmity with the two supervisors and they stated that they had
none. They said that the supervisors were against the members of TDWU
Union and constantly harassed and threatened them with canceling their
passes, whereas the members of NMGKS were particularly favoured by
giving them regular bookings.
Response of GTI
Despite the police complaint made by the two workers and despite having
mentioned the names of the two supervisors no action has yet been taken.
They have not been arrested and they are presently working in the
company. No inquiry has yet been conducted by the company or the
police. By letter dated 29.10.2009, TDWU informed Mr. Arvind Bhatnagar,
CEO of GTI about the entire incident and also provided the names of
the two supervisors. However they have not yet been arrested. Instead a
reply dated 9th November, 2009 was given by GTI interalia stating
“…… Please note that we have entered into contract with these companies
on a principal to principal basis, therefore we would not be in a
position to reply to your these letters.”
Contrary to this position, the law provides that the Principal is
responsible for the acts of its agent/ contractor.
Conclusion
The above report is based upon the interviews of the two workers namely
Mr. Bhausaheb Kiswe and Mr. Danaji Namdeo Jadhav their wives, and other
workers working with Thakur Infraproject. Relevant documents at the P.F
office, Police Station and the Labour Commissioner’s office have also
been examined.
Source: ITF
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