Indian govt backs workers who killed boss: police, reports

[OhioChick]

Source: AFP

6 hours ago

NEW DELHI (AFP) — Sacked workers in India beat to death the boss of the Italian company that had laid them off, police said on Tuesday, in a killing the government described as a "warning for management."

Scores of former employees at car parts maker Graziano Transmissioni attacked chief executive Lalit Kishore Chaudhary, 47, when a meeting on Monday to discuss a long-running labour dispute turned violent, police said.

"Twenty-three people are still in hospital," superintendent of police Babu Ram told AFP.

Police said the company sacked more than 100 workers three months ago but arranged the meeting to work out a possible reinstatement deal.

"Only a few people were called inside. About 150 people were waiting outside when they heard someone from inside shout for help. They rushed in and the two sides clashed," Ram said.

Chaudhary, a father with one son, was hit on the head with either a stick or an iron rod and was declared dead on arrival at hospital, police said.

India's labour minister declined to criticise the attack, saying it "should serve as a warning for management."

"Workers should be dealt with with compassion," Oscar Fernandes told reporters in New Delhi, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

"The workers should not be pushed so hard that they resort to whatever happened."



Read more: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gu3kg99r1ETlVMkGWHBTYem8AeLg

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Quote: India's labour minister declined to criticise the attack, saying it "should serve as a warning for management."


:wtf:

[UndertheOcean]

1. Yes, WTF.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[MetaTrope]

8. Won't happen on Wall Street when the employees are being let go with

quarter million dollar bonuses. (Right, Lehman Brothers?)

[jakem]

4. last time this story posted, everyone here on DU seemed delighted about the killing.

[OhioChick]

5. This is an update to the original story....

However, I'm in shock that the government didn't criticize what had happened....

[DeepModem Mom]

12. Yes. I thought we opposed capital punishment. In fact, I thought we opposed MURDER.

I can't believe the sickening responses to this story.

Lawful societies can, and should, punish lawfully, if a person is judged guilty of a crime.

[Habibi]

26. And when one's society is no longer lawful?

What then?

Not applauding the killing. Just find it interesting that the Indian govt has expressed this opinion.

[The Stranger]

32. Well then believe it -- people are very, very pissed off right now.

And typing something anonymously on an Internet board -- and being insufficiently outraged -- is not the same as being complicit in the crime.

[AlphaCentauri]

23. Most here won't advocate th killing of the boss but many are expressing their frustration

with the current events.
Actually we have to recognize the boss for meeting with the employees to discuss their future.

[Wabbajack_]

27. Shocking

Murder=wrong, period

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[babylonsister]

9. Just...wow. I bet this country isn't that far away from scenes like this. nt

[LiberalFighter]

10. Is the Indian govt supporting the workers only when they attack foreigners?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

21. Lalit Kishore Chaudhary sounds foreign to you?

[LiberalFighter]

24. Did you check the story? They had Italians there too.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

31. yes and indians as well thereby proving its not a race issue but a class issue

[Chemical Bill]

11. They killed another pawn in the game.

It's not like they killed the people at the top who do the damage. This is one more example of violence not solving anything.

Bill

[Fumesucker]

13. When economic times are rough enough, getting fired is nearly a death sentence..

You go around handing out death sentences and there is a chance that someone will retaliate.

I doubt the killing was intentional, I've been on the sidelines of a melee before and things are very confused and happen very fast.

[Indenturedebtor]

15. Yes, losing one's job can be like a death sentence

When your business is screwing people, expect things like this to happen from time to time.

[OhioChick]

16. Makes one wonder

If/When we'll begin to see this sort of thing happening here.

[Crowman1979]

35. We already have, their called disgruntled employees.

But it may become more widespread and in group form if this economy gets worse.

[bemildred]

14. Why can't people just starve quietly like they are supposed to?

I am very sympathetic with arguments that people ought not take the law into their own hands; but the law has a corresponding duty to see that people are protected, that their basic needs are met, that the law is not just pit-bull for the haves to use against the have-nots. You cannot expect people to support and obey and cooperate with a law that demands that they starve and die.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[McCamy Taylor]

18. What's with the deleted messages? Racism? How sad. Labor problems are universal

and happen between bosses and employees of all religions, races, ethnicity, ages and genders. Usually it is the bosses that end up killing their employees. In the U.S. that kind of stuff happens all the time and no one even blinks an eye. Everyone always figures it was self defense and the workers must have set it off. I guess India has a different value system.

Capitalism sucks. Will I get deleted for posting that?

[OhioChick]

19. Not racism.

I believe (not entirely sure) that many were deleted for comments relating to let's say (without getting myself deleted)........sticking on the side of the perpetrators.....and suggestion that it should happen in the U.S. Don't quote me, though.

[conspirator]

29. Yes. The deleted messages are from people who suggested the same should be done in the west.

I cannot say I disagree

[La Lioness Priyanka]

20. well to be fair thats not the unanimous opinion: the labor minister warned mgmt but the Federation

of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry called it heinous

[OhioChick]

22. True...

However, the labour minister should never have made a comment as he had.

[Nihil]

30. Be fair ...

> the labor minister warned mgmt but the Federation of Indian
> Chambers of Commerce and Industry called it heinous

That's like expressing surprise that a union issues a statement
supporting one of its members ... Just think how bad it would
have to be before such support *wasn't* given automatically.

It's still surprising (and refreshingly honest) that the minister
expressed that opinion though.

[readmoreoften]

25. Kinda like the lefty version of "Git-R-dun"

[OakCliffDem]

28. K & R

[nolabels]

33. This is India, not the US, and the US ideas and models might helped it to happen

The societal caste system in that country is not very interchangeable as compared to our much more loose system where money talks and B.S. walks. This is actually a type of culture clash. It's not much different from the idea of filling your car up with the garden hose and expecting it to run :shrug:

[WriteDown]

34. Some of the posts on this topic are amazing...

So are we now supporting fired postal workers who shoot up their post offices???? How is this ever justified? If the government thinks these people had a valid point, then they should be supplied with government jobs to prevent unemployment.

[Vidar]

36. Bravo, workers! Bravo Indian government! They at least appear to favor their people over management.

[varun]

37. Minister who supported the workers apologizes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7633687.stm

Minister 'sorry' for murder slur

India's labour minister has apologised after appearing to declare support for sacked workers who allegedly beat their former boss to death.

In comments that outraged business leaders, Oscar Fernandes said the death should "serve as a warning" to managers to treat workers compassionately.

Mr Fernandes has now said that his views were "misinterpreted".

Lalit Kishore Chaudhary, of Graziano Trasmissioni India, died on Monday at the company factory in Greater Noida....

[cosmicone]

38. This comes from a former communist mentality that has held India back

and I abhor it. India has extremely tough labor laws. Once made permanent, people cannot be fired even for gross incompetence. People cannot be laid off even if the company is losing money in some cases.

This was a barbaric act perpetrated by a few thugs who wanted to force a reinstatement at any cost.

The result will be that foreign companies will pull capital out of India and these people would make many more starve because of their recklessness and greed.

By the way, the CEO who was murdered was not one of the multimillion dollar, heavy golden parachute type of a CEO. He was probably part of the cheap labor in India, getting paid about $3000 a month. His death is hardly a cause for celebration and any comparison with the Wall Street CEOs is manifestly unfair and inaccurate.

[firedupdem]

39. This is a really horrible story. I'm hoping it won't play out on

a larger scale here. We already have people usually with mental issues going "postal"...but what happens when just regular folks can't feed their families, pay their bills, etc. It's sad, but I'm hoping with the new Obama/Biden administration the country will turn in the right direction.

[mitchum]

40. Sometimes the hatchet is used on the hatchet man