Punjabi workers demand permanent jobs

Since April 21 hundreds of workers at the Horlicks factory in Nabha in Punjab state in northwest India, have held continuous protest actions against the company’s refusal to grant permanent employment to casual workers employed on a ‘temporary’ basis for more than a decade. The factory is owned by multinational GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Faced with a ban on union gatherings – including gate meetings – within 100 metres of the factory and management’s refusal to negotiate, the GSK Horlicks workers have launched a series of protest actions and rallies throughout the city. Read the full story on the IUF website.

Since April 21 hundreds of workers at the Horlicks factory in Nabha in Punjab state in northwest India, have held continuous protest actions against the company’s refusal to grant permanent employment to casual workers employed on a ‘temporary’ basis for more than a decade. The factory is owned by multinational GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Faced with a ban on union gatherings – including gate meetings – within 100 metres of the factory and management’s refusal to negotiate, the GSK Horlicks workers have launched a series of protest actions and rallies throughout the city. Read the full story on the IUF website.

In its recent collective bargaining proposal to GSK management, the Milk Food Factory Workers Union included the demand that 287 ‘temporary’ workers be made permanent since they have worked for more than 10 years at the factory.

Yet management at the Horlick’s factory refused to even consider the demand, resulting in a complete breakdown in negotiations. Instead of resolving the matter at the bargaining table GSK management sought to restrict workers’ freedom of assembly and freedom of speech by obtaining a court injunction banning union activities within 100 metres of the factory gate.