Despite such similarities, few had anticipated that a fierce kind of labour unrest, as serious as in China, will develop in a liberalized, growing India. The phenomenon is more telling in the new industrial areas rather than the traditional hubs. The sudden strike and violence in Haryana's Honda unit - happened much before the recent outpourings in China - has been an eye-opener. Yet we had all dismissed it as an aberration, an isolated eruption of the militant unionism. It is no more so. Honda strike and firings had marked a strong warning about the changing aspirations of the better paid, new generation skilled worker.

What had happened in Manesar is fast spreading to new areas. In the past few months, strikes and protests hit big foreign firms like Hyundai, Foxconn, Nokia, Pricol, Bosch, to name a few. There have been cases of violence even in some startups. Tamil Nadu, claimed as the most hospitable state with an industrious business class, has been a favoured destination for foreign brands. Its Detroit has auto brand giants and a large spare parts industry. The whole Sriperumbudur and Coimbatore belts are in the grip of labour tension. Hyundai had to tackle at least four sit-in strikes over and above frequent disruption of work between the workers and management.

In most cases, the bone of contention is recognition of the union, so common during the pre-90s. Often the labour department had to intervene to restore peace. Workers had turned violent and intimidated the managers of Bosch. Just last month, workers of Nokia went on a sudden strike. Wage fixation was the main issue. Some time back this popular cell phone maker experienced a strike when several skilled staff were suspended for indiscipline. In the absence of organized unions, worker-management tension often takes the form of physical assault and murder. Coimbatore's auto spare parts major Pricol's HR vice-president was killed allegedly by the angry workers. At Greater Noida, dismissed workers of Oerlikon-Graziano lynched its chief executive. There have been several cases of disaffection and tension even in different pockets of Maharashtra and the traditionally peaceful Gujarat.

If the spreading industrial turbulence is not widely known outside the respective factory gates, it has been due to the policy of not 'scaring' away the foreign investors. Hence officials cite figures to show a clear drop in strikes in the past few years. Yet at many factory gates one can see banners and red flags - reminiscent of the pre-1992 trade union activism. A hospitable industrial climate and availability of cheap skilled labour have been the strong points while wooing the FDI to India. Apparently, bad publicity is being discouraged. On the other, a feeling of letdown is apparent among some of the affected foreign firms. They are now moving heaven and earth to get the prevailing labour protection laws scrapped. Domestic business associations as well as the powerful US-India Business Council have once again taken up the demand at the highest levels.

Since 1991 every successive government had avoided this politically risky legislation. Powerful labour wings of all major political parties - INTUC, AITUC, CITU, BMS, HMS, etc - virulently oppose the introduction of unrestricted hiring and firing. Now the non-BMS unions are planning joint action to preserve labour rights. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK government is under pressure to introduce the Maharashtra and West Bengal labour laws that give more protection to the workers. A few weeks back, a senior union minister had tried to persuade Karunanidhi to halt this retrograde step that will have global dimensions.

Two factors add to the surge in labour unrest. First, the new generation HR managers with all their B-school pedigree, are found ill-equipped to meet the simmering turmoil. Even industry leaders now realize that their old 'Personnel Departments' were more competent both in striking compromises and breaking the strikes. The new HR managers, used to dealing with the well-paid annual package kind, fumble when faced with the rebelling types. Many of the wild-cat work stoppages are attributed to the mishandling by the HR. Absence of recognized unions under seasoned leaders adds to the chaos. Incidentally, the DMK-led Labour Progressive Front (LPF) is vying with others to gain upper hand in the labour protests. LPF cites how China itself had in 2008 introduced new rules giving greater labour protection to its workers. LPF wants the same in Tamil Nadu.

The other factor, common for both India and China, is a mood change among the well-paid, high-skilled employees who have been the best beneficiaries of the liberalization. Until a decade back it was fashionable for the reform writers to claim that the new generation workers with 'many things to lose' did have a stake in industrial peace. However, they had badly overlooked the basic human tendency. Things like aspirations and happiness are always relative and never ending. Clearly, the euphoria of sudden upward mobility and the million-plus annual package is wearing off, and hence new demands are coming up. Higher cost of living - for domestic aide, car maintenance and EMI - due to the year-long price spiral also pushes wage rise demand. Unlike in liberalisation's hey days, wage raise, as in China, is now a major issue in the new generation industries.

Rising wage bill and surging input costs are clear signs of a high-cost economy with its growing domestic market for the new beneficiary class. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee confirms this by attributing higher consumption as a major factor in the price rise. All this must happen as economy grows under the existing globalization regime. And a high-cost economy will be less attractive for FDI and outsourcing. India is going to be the worst victim of another painful distortion. In the present industrial model, modern factories have no place for unskilled labour. Even most of cleaning and clearing is outsourced and are done partly by machines.

Harsh Mander, member of Sonia Gandhi's National Advisory Council (NAC), narrates how machines replace unskilled labour by comparing the Asiad 28 years back (when several lakhs worked for the projects) with the ongoing commonwealth games (with less than a lakh). Every upgradation brings more sophisticated machines which needs even more skilled workers. Many of those not chosen for training for the new machines are left out. Such elements are now emerging as rebellious TU leaders.(IPA Service)