Maruti Suzuki should develop an employee involvement/participation programme that consists of a variety of mechanisms to enable open and two-way communications between management and labour, including for example, employee suggestion schemes, workplace committees, open door policy, and so on. These mechanisms need to be implemented in a genuine manner instead of a gimmick. In other words, managers treat workers a valued members of the company to engender a cooperative spirit. Concerns raised by employees and non-employee workers should be acknowledged and addressed in a timely fashion. If solutions cannot be provided, then reasonable explanations should be provided. Workers should not be victimised for raising criticisms or concerns against poor management practices. In addition to voicing concerns, workers may be encouraged to put forward suggestions that are aiming to improve the management of the workplace. Incentive schemes may be introduced to encourage employee involvement that brings tangible benefits to the company.

The Indian workforce has become more highly educated. As they are exposed to western culture as a result of globalisation, they have become more aware of their rights, more eager to succeed, and more confident in demanding improved employment terms and conditions. With the growing entry of foreign MNCs and the rapid development of domestic private firms, the country is experiencing severe skill shortage and a wage war is taking place amongst firms in developed regions. In the absence of effective union representation and collective bargaining, individual workers are using their marketable skills to increase their labour market return through job hobbing. This opportunistic behaviour is not conducive to developing a long-term employment relationship. As a corporate and society citizen, young workers may learn to be more patient at their workplace and more loyal to the company and colleagues. In addition to asserting their rights and interests, employees have the responsibility to work with their peers and the management to turn the company into a better place for work in a sustainable manner. Individual short-termism and corporate short-termism combined will only induce opportunistic behaviour on both sides which will be detrimental to the nation’s competitiveness and wellbeing in the long term.

Agency employment exists for different reasons that may benefit the user company, the individual and the agency firm. For example, in situations where particular types of expertise are needed urgently or only for a short period of time, agency employment will help the user company to acquire the expertise promptly on the one hand, and provide the individual lucrative reward on the other. However, in situations where user companies use agency workers to evade legal responsibility as an employer, to bypass trade unions, and to exploit certain categories of workers who lack bargaining power, then this form of employment will bring little benefit to the workers. In situations where the user company has definitive bargaining power over the employment agency, even the latter does not enjoy much benefit in this labour supply value chain. The Maruti Suzuki case suggests that prima facie, the Company, as the user of agency employment, and the employment agencies, as the legal employer of the agency workers, may have a symbiotic relationship at times of peace, but when the limits are reached beyond tolerance by the workers, the consequence may be disastrous for all concerned.

The trade unions in Maruti Suzuki should develop a more inclusive and cooperative approach to represent the rights and interests of different groups of workers, including employees and different categories of agency workers. These workers are subject to different employment terms and conditions and have different demands and expectations. An important way forward is to try to harmonise workplace treatments to avoid entrenching the ‘second class citizen’ perception of the agency workers and those from lower social class. In addition, the trade unions should work with the management to develop a cooperative rather than confrontational way of working to achieve a win-win solution. Instead of adopting a procedural and reactive approach to grievance management, a proactive and preventive approach informed by humanistic human resource management practices should be implemented. The trade unions can also help develop and implement initiatives to raise productivity, for example, through skill training and employee involvement initiatives.

The major issues in the industrial relations system are the rigidity and complexity of the labour regulations and laws at various levels, which constrain employers’ autonomy. As a result, over 90% of the workforce end up in informal employment. The majority of them have little bargaining power and suffer from low labour standards. Industrial relations in traditional firms often adopt a confrontational approach that emphasises self-interests rather than shared interests. The Indian government should consider revising its labour laws to reflect current business environment on the one hand, and increase the legal protection of those in informal employment on the other, including, for example, effective implementation of minimum labour standards.