“My father has been paralysed for the last three-and-a-half years. I am his only son and the sole supporter of the family.

Apart from my father and mother, I have my wife and one-year-old son to take care of,” says Santhosh Adhikari. This 28-year-old was working with Radhakrishna Foodland Pvt. Ltd, a contractorof PepsiCo India situated in West Bengal until he was dismissed earlier this year.

Adhikari was one of 162 workers working the factory, an exclusive subcontractor of PepsiCo India, whose contracts were illegally terminated because they had formed a union and demanded their rights.

These workers, who were employed under precarious conditions via a labour contractor and outsourcing warehouse, were paid less than the minimum wage and denied their basic legal rights.

Shortly after they submitted their demands to the management of PepsiCo India and to the warehouse operator, they were visited by a gang of thugs who assaulted the workers and forced them to leave the warehouse.

PepsiCo, a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than 65 billion US dollars, established its business operations in India in 1989.

It’s salted and masala-flavoured snacks such as Lay’s, Lehar Namkeen, Aliva and Kurkure are some of the most popular snack products in India.

On the surface, PepsiCo India presents an image of a company that takes its Corporate Social Responsibility obligations seriously.

Indra Nooyi, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer at PepsiCo, in the company’s annual report for 2012 states: “Our actions — the actions of all our associates — are governed by our Global Code of Conduct.

“This Code is clearly aligned with our stated values — a commitment to sustained growth, through empowered people, operating with responsibility and building trust.”

The reality, however, appears to be quite different.

“Unfriendly atmosphere”

“We work 26 days in a month throughout the year. We get 3,800 rupees (65 US dollars) as monthly wages and are entitled to only six national holidays. Though it is a shift system, we are compelled to work more than 12 hours a day without any overtime wages. If we take leave on May 1 for participating in May Day demonstrations or for any other matter, then two days’ leave is marked and the salary is deducted accordingly,” says Ajith Debnath, another retrenched worker.

“It was the unfriendly labour atmosphere in the company that forced us to form a union,” he adds.

On April 3, 2013, the union – Radhakrishna Foodland Pvt. Ltd Contract Employees Union– submitted a memorandum to M/s Radhakrishna Foodland Pvt. Ltd and Ms. Weavings Manpower Solutions Ltd as well as to principal employer PepsiCo.

The 16-point charter of demands included payment of minimum wages to all employees along with letters of appointment and proper identity cards with retrospective effect; reinstatement of sacked employees; national and festival holidays, hours of work, rest/intervals, and other facilities and benefits in accordance with the Factory Act; and coverage under Employees’ Provident Funds Act and Employees’ State Insurance Act.

“The retaliation move by the management began when, after joining the union, we approached them to talk about minimum wages as well provident fund [pension],” recalls Adhikari.

“Though the monthly provident fund was deducted from our salary, the total amount remitted to each worker to date was only around 1,675 rupees (29 US dollars).

Almost all the retrenched employees had been with the company for more than four years and PF deduction had started immediately after joining work,” he says.

“The employees who approached the management were thrown out of job without being given any reason,” says Ramen Pandey, working president of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), West Bengal, and the person who initiated the union movement in the company.

“The management first retrenched 11 workers on January 5, 2013, when they came to know that the contract workers were getting unionised.

Subsequently, when the labour commissioner’s office tried to verify whether these workers were employed by PepsiCo (since there was no registration made with the department), the company threw out 39 more workers on March 30, 2013.

Ignoring all communications from the union, the company further retrenched 112 workers on April 30, 2013,” he adds.

Violence

The workers also came under physical attack by union-busting thugs hired by the management.

“I was beaten up on my forehead. Pratap Ghosh and Sharat Patro broke their hands; Akhtar Ali, Sujit Deb and Moloy Giri along with nine others were badly beaten up when we went to give the memorandum,” says Ajtih Debnath.

“We cannot go to the company premises now. The management goons are there to beat and chase us away,” he claims.

INTUC, the union to which Radhakrishna Foodland Contract Employees Union is affiliated, has issued a complaint to Purnendu Basu, Minister of Labour for West Bengal as well as to Indranil Sengupta, the West Bengal Labour Secretary.

In a message of solidarity, the International Trade Union Confederation General Secretary Sharon Burrow decried this abuse of workers’ rights as outrageous as well as a clear violation of the principle of freedom of association as enshrined in ILO conventions 87 and 98, as well as of other rights such as permanent work, minimum wage and social security.

Indeed, the illegal retrenchment of 162 workers is a total violation of the global framework of agreement signed by PepsiCo and global trade union organisations, by depriving the workers of their right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) launched a campaign on 25 June to call for PepsiCo India to respect workers’ rights in India, reinstate the dismissed workers and start negotiations with the union.

To support the IUF PepsiCo campaign, click here.