Research on labour in global production networks has raised serious questions about the role played by labour contractors. This article uses a case study of automotive components production in north India to show how labour contractors assist firms to adapt to the rigours of competition in supply chains. We demonstrate that a regional contract labour system has enabled employers to keep wages low, increase firm flexibility, offload the burden of monitoring and controlling workers and undermine collective bargaining and trade union rights. These problems further expose serious weaknesses in the implementation and enforcement of labour laws in India.
The 8-12 ~ range of infrared radiation being very significant for various e1ectrooptic applications, various materials present themselves as candidates for use as dome (window) materials in this range. This paper discusses various thermal, mechanical and optical properties of these materials. Further, trends in the development of these materials are also presented.
India's automobile sector has emerged as an important growth engine of the Indian economy. The Northern automobile cluster in Haryana is not only the center of the automobile sector, but also a center of industrial unrest. This article questions informality in India's automobile sector through the application of commodity chain analysis to explain why India's automobile sector is beset by informality, low wages, and insecure working conditions. The article illustrates how leading firms in India's automobile industry, with the connivance of the Indian state, exploit the automobile commodity chain to marginalize both subordinate firms and the contract and casual workers who now make up the majority of the industry's workforce. The very structure of India's automobile industry locks many workers and firms into insecure work, where productivity gains are eaten up by leading firms, further reducing the margins of lower level suppliers and the wages of workers. While the automobile sector, and the demand for vehicles in India is growing, the wages and conditions of the workers in the sector are not improving. This qualitative study of Haryana's automobile sector attempts to explain why this is the case. The article concludes that India's industrial relations regime has long ceased to reflect the actual balance of power between labor and capital, institutionalizing noncompliance with the labor law and providing the basis for the industry's informalization.
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