Synopsis: Communication
For Productivity
Letters
written to some 7500 Workers / Managers / Union Leaders, following a period
of strike / Go slow / Murders (1979 - 1987), at Mumbai factory of Larsen
& Toubro Ltd. This direct / open / honest communication led to a
remarkable atmosphere of trust between Workers and Management, which, in
turn, increased productivity at 3% per year (ave).
|
8 Feb 1985
To:
A SWALLOW DOES NOT A SUMMER MAKE
That is how
they say it in America.
But in
India, we could say,
Even in Bombay,
we are in the middle
of a winter. The nights are so cold
that my thoughts turn to the
poor who sleep on the foot-path.
In the
middle of this cold winter-night, if I
were to hear a Bulbul sing outside my
window, could I confidently say
that Basant-rutu is around the corner ?
Obviously no
!
Just one solitary
Bulbul cannot mean that
Basant-rutu has arrived ! The
Bulbul must have lost its way !
For
Basant to arrive truely, we
need many more Bulbuls -not
only one who
might have come
perhaps by an accident/chance !
The same may
be true of our
profitability for the year 1983-84 !
Yes, the
figures are finally
published to end your anxiety" ?
Let us once again turn to our "Mount Kailash" and see
what happened in 1983-84
Bravo !
Our profitability has
improved by 0.3% in 1983-84 over the previous year.
Perhaps not yet
!. Perhaps the winter is still
not over. Perhaps this Bulbul
has lost its way .!
Perhaps Basant is still far away!
How far ?
That is upto us !
In
nature we cannot order the
winter to "hurry-up and get out". It takes its own time.
But in
a business-enterprise like ours, we can
come out of the winter FAST -
through our own efforts. If we work hard (and smart) all the time, we can enjoy a Basant-weather
all the time !
So let us
not waste time
in celebrating, 0.3% rise in
profitability I
Let us ask
of ourselves,
"What
must 7000 people at Powai do during the
current year (of which 4 months have already gone I ) to ensure that
our
profitability rises by 3.0% in 1984 - 85?
If a
direct worker of Kelvinator company
in Delhi can increase
his output from
8 refrigerators to
14 refrigerators/month in 5
years, (an increase of
75% in producitvity!) why cannot we ?
And to think
that the average wage of our SSA worker
is more than double the wages (including
incentive bonus) earned by a Kelvinator worker !
And if
anyone thinks that Kelvinator company may be using
u more modern machinery
u superior plant layout
u better working conditions
u greater mechanisation/automation
compared to
our factories at Powai, then let him go and ask
Mr. R.B.
Bhambhani (PGW)
Mr. H.M.
Daga (PSW)
Mr. P.W.
Karnataki (PGW)
and they
will tell you that Kelvinator has
u a 24 year-old factory
building
u a very crowded shop-floor
u 15/20 year old power-presses -
u Poor ventilation
u very little mechanization
And yet
they have managed
to bring about
a fantastic increase in their
productivity.
How ?
If someone wants
to suggest that it is
because of their
production-incentive scheme.
he is RIGHT
!
The earnings
in Kelvinator are
linked to group and individual performance. The employees have to
produce FIRST
earn LATER
Much the
same way as in the case of the agreement
in Premier Automobiles Ltd. (PAL) in Bombay - just 2 months
before we signed our own agreement.
PAL workers
agreed to FIRST raise car production
from 75/day to 100/day.
PAL Management agreed to grant
Rs. 250 per month to each worker THEREAFTER
- but only as
long as car production remained 100/day ! For a 33% increase in productivity .'
And if you do not take into account this incentive of Rs. 250 per month (which can go up and down with the production
and will
be a ZERO at
75 cars/day), the rest
of the comparison between L&T and premier
Automobiles
looks like the following:
MINIMUM WAGE
(ALL COMPUTATIONS AT CPI
2513)
LARSEN
& TOUBRO LIMITED
|
PREMIER
AUTOMOBILES LIMITED
|
|||||
Before
Settlement
|
After Settlement
|
Increase
|
Before
Settlement
|
After
Settlement
|
increase
|
|
|
D. A.
MONTHLY
ALLOW.
|
46.80 868.26
191.00
|
55.90
911.89
591.50
|
9.10 43.63
400.50
|
287
435
183
|
287
435
543
|
-
-
360
|
TOTAL
|
1106.06
|
1559.29
|
453.23
|
905
|
1265
|
360
|
MAXIMUM WAGE
(ALL
COMPUTATIONS AT CPI 2513)
LARSEN
& TOUBRO LIMITED
|
PREMIER
AUTOMOBILES LIMITED
|
|||||
Before Settlement
|
After
Settlement
|
Increase
|
Before
Settlement
|
After
Settlement
|
increase
|
|
BASIC D.
A. MONTHLY ALLOW.
|
426.40
2097.98 228.00
|
465.66
2106.89 745.50
|
39.26 8.91
517.50
|
759
435
163
|
759
435
735
|
-
-
567
|
TOTAL
|
2752.38
|
3318.05
|
565.67
|
1357
|
1929
|
567
|
PAL workmen
also agreed to,
u a large number
of casual and
contract workers to be
retrenched
u a large number
of workers working on
truck-assembly line to be shifted to the car-assembly line.
And although
you may not have friends in Delhi who can tell you what is happening
at Kelvinator, I am sure you have
friends here in Bombay who are working
in Premier factory and who can confirm or contradict my statements.
And if you
do find out, how
much actually the Premier
car production has gone up since signing
of the agreement, please do let me know !
All I
know is that
the Maruti car
company (Suzuki-Japan
collaboration) in Delhi
produced -
10,000 cars last year
plans -
21,000 cars in current year (union's target against management target of
20,000 !)
expects - 40,000 cars during next year !
And Maruti
have a total of 1900 employees (top - to bottom) at present.
You may also
tell this to your friends working in Premier !
Maruti
employees do not wish to keep this a TOP - SECRET !
They want
employees all over India to know this !
And those L&T-ites who went
and saw Maruti factory would
be failing in their duty if they
do not tell you what they saw and heard
at Maruti !
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