Blog #11, Corey Sitton

http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/indias-skilled-workers-left-behind/
First of all, I would like to say that the labor unrest in India is a given. What would any company expect? Knowing that they pay thier employes 38 dollars an hour less than others doing the same job in another factory. 2 dollars an hours is an extremely low wage for the auto industry, especially for skilled workers who have moved through alot of school to be placed in the job that they are in.  As a company, there should be a standard of payment where an employee is paid more for his increase in worth. If John has more knowledge, more experience, and more education than Bob, he should be paid more. He is more likely to make the company more money at a faster rate. However, at the Suzuki plant in India, it seems that the higher ups do a good job of paying everyone an extremly low and possibly equal wage. The problem with this is the retaliation of workers. All though the higher ups are more powerful in a social setting, in a physical setting, everyone is equal. Their all men with fists and they can all fight, and thats just what they did. When a company does not have the trust of their employees to take care of them, everybody is enemys. In India, you have also alot of intellectual and very gifted and talented workers, who know that they are worth more than 2 dollars an hour.
However, the result of this catastophe is quite a social problem in itself.  Yes, the treatment of the workers was wrong, but the violent outbreaks can be a social virus that may catch on and set fire across workplaces of unfair treatment, like this particular suzuki plant.  The closing statement of the article makes a nice summarization.
"In the face of such rhetoric, the Maruti incident serves as a cautionary tale. Growth that cannot deliver jobs or decent living conditions to the citizens of a country cannot be an end in itself."