July's violence at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plantclaimed the life of a general manager, cost hundreds of workers their jobs and caused the company a production loss of close to a quarter of a billion dollars.
It also threw lighton the disproportionately high use of contract workers by India's manufacturing companies, a practice that helps them manoeuvre around the country's rigid labour rules.
Contract labourers have been found to be often poorly paid in comparison to permanent workers. And the visible inequality that this arrangement spews is seen as an important trigger for violence.
Sure enough, in the aftermath of the violence, Maruti has decided to bid goodbye to the contract labour system. It might be on the back-foot for the time being in India, but in Europe, things are only getting more attractive for contract or temporary labour.
Brian Wilkinson, executive board member of the over 16 billion HR solutions company Randstad Holding, points to "a kind of convergence happening toward the freeing up of the labour markets" in those parts.
Policymakers everywhere confront seemingly conflicting pressures from two important constituencies: industry, which wants liberal labour laws, and workers, who want more protection. The European convergence that Wilkinson is referring to addresses them both.
One aspect of it is the easing of barriers to flexible working. There have been rules, particularly in southern Europe, regarding where temporary staff can be used and for how long.
A convention of the International Labour Organization, the UN agency looking at labour issues, is aimed at doing away with such restrictions. "India isn't a signatory but that's something the Indian Staffing Federation is pushing for, because there's a clear correlation between labour market flexibility and employment generation."
The temporary workers have something to look forward to as well. "There's an equally-strong move toward greater security for temporary workers," he says. That will come in the form of equal pay (parity with permanent employees). Two years ago, UK made it possible for temps to qualify for equal pay after being in an assignment for 13 weeks. Germany has now passed a similar law, he says.
"The removal of restrictions opens up the market. And the extension of greater protection to temporary staff also increases the availability of candidates," Wilkinson says. "You create a virtuous circle, where everyone has more flexibility and are able to respond to lifestyle circumstances and production needs."
That's a path India may want to think of in future, says Wilkinson. "When I started out in the UK 30 years ago, it was like this (India). It was poorly regulated." Not any more.
Clearly, the contract worker system is in its nascent stages in countries such as India and China. And it shows. Wilkinson talks about there being "a marked difference between the more mature markets and emerging ones" when it comes to use of contract workers.
The difference is as basic as why they are being used in the first place. In India, he says, the driver is the lower labour cost. "And that's driven by regulation. What Indian employers lack is the ability to flex their workforce."
It also threw lighton the disproportionately high use of contract workers by India's manufacturing companies, a practice that helps them manoeuvre around the country's rigid labour rules.
Contract labourers have been found to be often poorly paid in comparison to permanent workers. And the visible inequality that this arrangement spews is seen as an important trigger for violence.
Sure enough, in the aftermath of the violence, Maruti has decided to bid goodbye to the contract labour system. It might be on the back-foot for the time being in India, but in Europe, things are only getting more attractive for contract or temporary labour.
Brian Wilkinson, executive board member of the over 16 billion HR solutions company Randstad Holding, points to "a kind of convergence happening toward the freeing up of the labour markets" in those parts.
Policymakers everywhere confront seemingly conflicting pressures from two important constituencies: industry, which wants liberal labour laws, and workers, who want more protection. The European convergence that Wilkinson is referring to addresses them both.
One aspect of it is the easing of barriers to flexible working. There have been rules, particularly in southern Europe, regarding where temporary staff can be used and for how long.
A convention of the International Labour Organization, the UN agency looking at labour issues, is aimed at doing away with such restrictions. "India isn't a signatory but that's something the Indian Staffing Federation is pushing for, because there's a clear correlation between labour market flexibility and employment generation."
The temporary workers have something to look forward to as well. "There's an equally-strong move toward greater security for temporary workers," he says. That will come in the form of equal pay (parity with permanent employees). Two years ago, UK made it possible for temps to qualify for equal pay after being in an assignment for 13 weeks. Germany has now passed a similar law, he says.
"The removal of restrictions opens up the market. And the extension of greater protection to temporary staff also increases the availability of candidates," Wilkinson says. "You create a virtuous circle, where everyone has more flexibility and are able to respond to lifestyle circumstances and production needs."
That's a path India may want to think of in future, says Wilkinson. "When I started out in the UK 30 years ago, it was like this (India). It was poorly regulated." Not any more.
Clearly, the contract worker system is in its nascent stages in countries such as India and China. And it shows. Wilkinson talks about there being "a marked difference between the more mature markets and emerging ones" when it comes to use of contract workers.
The difference is as basic as why they are being used in the first place. In India, he says, the driver is the lower labour cost. "And that's driven by regulation. What Indian employers lack is the ability to flex their workforce."
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