The fact that they report to their contractors and can easily be sent away if they become members of unions has kept contract workers mostly out of unions.
However, the Coca-Cola management is currently in talks with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions on various demands made on behalf of contract workers in its factory in Dasna in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the 49 factories the company has in the country.
It has 300 regular workers and 500 contract workers and during the peak production season in the summer, the number of contract workers increases to up to 700.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-affiliated Citu's union in the factory, which is recognised by the management, has about 300 contract workers as its members.
And the good news is that the management is considering their demand to regularise the workers or at least bring parity in the working conditions between regular and contract workers.
At the national level, the Citu leadership is talking to the Coke management on the issue of parity of conditions.
The biggest victory for the contract workers at Coke so far has been concerning parity.
This had to do with the canteens the workers ate at.
There were earlier three canteens among which only one was open for the contract workers.
"We protested and now the management has closed down two of the canteens and there is a single canteen for all.
"The workers even get their food coupons from the same place.
The contract workers proved
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