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The contemporary corporate observers in India are per-

turbed by the increasing incidence of industrial sick-


ness. The magnitude of corporate sickness has evoked
considerable public concern and media attention. The
number of sick units as of December 1990 is estimated
to have reached a staggering figure of 3.46 lakh. Also, a
large number of sick units have been found to be non-
viable. The ratio of viable to non-viable units is 1:16 in
1990. Sickness is more pronounced in the private sector
especially the small scale sector. Of late, however, many
public sector units have also turned sick. Out of a total
of 244 public sector undertakings, 98 are loss making
units with an accumulated loss of Rs 10052.8 crore. Out
of these 98 units, 58 are identified as chronically sick
units with an accumulated loss of Rs 8536.76 crore.
What is the role of a workers' cooperative in These units are on the brink of winding up (Mehta,
turning around sick enterprises in the 1992).
current context of increasing corporate The responsibility for evolving suitable action
sickness? plans to revive and turn around the sick unit lies as
much on the employer as it is incumbent upon the
Based on the turnaround experience of government. It is also equally important that labour be
Kamani Tubes Limited, Surya Mookherjee assigned an important role in the process. We have
analyses the phenomenon of workers' many instances in recent years of workers bearing the
takeover and turnaround of a sick enterprise burden of turnaround and on many occasions success-
and the policy initiatives required in order fully performing this role.
to add fillip to such efforts. This paper is an attempt to examine the role of a
workers' cooperative in the turnaround of a sick
Surya Mookherjee is a member of the faculty at enterprise based on the turnaround experience of
the Gandhi Labour Institute, Ahmedabad. Kamani Tubes Limited (KTL). Experiences of other
workers' cooperatives in our country are also high-
lighted to provide the backdrop (Box 1).

Conceptual Background of a Workers'


Cooperative
Cooperative as a form of organization promotes the
concept of self- management and collective ownership.
An important organizational characteristic of a
cooperative is that the members who form the coopera-
tive often perform a combination of roles: owner,
promoter, investor, producer, manager, and employee.
These roles often overlap and are not easily distinguish-
able. Ownership of capital by workers influences the
style of functioning of the worker-owned enterprise.

Vol.18, No.l, January-March 1993 15


Theoretically, worker ownership at a macro level is functional specialization, division of activities, for-
viewed as an instrument of a new form of gradual mation of new work groups, allocation of respon-
transformation into a factory level social system. The sibilities, and ensuring group cohesion. In the initial
proponent of this argument is Dandekar (1987) who stages, the enterprise tends to be under managed in
goes to the extent of saying: "let the workers own and terms of quantity and quality especially in critical
manage." According to Dandekar, in the framework of areas of production, finance, and marketing. This
the capitalist economic system, the relationship be- situation arises due to the managerial vacuum
tween capital and labour is characterized by an- created by the exodus of key persons who seek
tagonism. Worker ownership is an appropriate alternative placements in more prosperous or-
response to capitalist antagonism. This can be achieved ganizations. Under workers' regime, the enterprise
by bringing about a change in the mode of production often finds it difficult to recruit from external
which in turn will ensure appropriate change in the market new managers who are competent as well
structure of capital. The conflict between capital and as sympathetic to the aspirations of workers and
labour can be resolved by bringing to an end the separa- who are ready to manage the new organization in
tion between the two. This situation is possible when a democratic and participatory manner.
the workers of each firm are made owners of its capital. The mainstream trade union movement has not
Dandekar advocates transfer of the yearly allocations to been sympathetic towards workers' takeover or
the Provident Fund into workers' share so that the workers' cooperative. It has remained indifferent
workers will become the major and ultimately the sole and at worst hostile to workers' cooperative.
shareholders in the company. Stock ownership, accord-
ing to him, is a means to establish worker ownership Three factors contribute towards the success of
and control. workers' takeover. First, the characteristics of the
workforce. A cohesive, homogenous group of
Role of Workers' Cooperatives in skilled workers equipped with self- confidence and
Turnaround: European Experience latent ability to undertake managerial work
facilitates successful running of the new enterprise.
A cross-country study (Paton et al. 1989) of workers' Second, competent leadership provided by either a
takeover in some European countries such as Italy, single individual or a group of individuals com
Spain, France, United Kingdom, West Germany, and mitted to both commercial and social objectives of
Denmark indicates the following main features: the workers and able to strike a balance between the
Workers' takeover of sick enterprises has taken short-term, immediate concerns of the workers and
place not by choice but by necessity in the context the long-term, commercial considerations of the
of viable or potentially viable enterprises and enterprise. Third, existence of effective and con
plants. In most cases, the takeover was necessitated tinuous external support. The kind of support may
by adverse economic circumstances and an instinct be financial, advisory, consultative, managerial,
of job preservation or preserving workers' live and work orders for goods and services.
lihood and work places.
After the takeover, the enterprise passes through The Turnaround of Kamani Tubes Limited
two phases: the recovery phase and the develop The concept of a workers' cooperative as a strategy for
mental phase. In the recovery phase, an attempt is turning around a sick enterprise gained prominence
made to restart commercial production, restore ever since the employees of the closed Kamani Tubes
profitability, ensure customer support, obtain Limited (KTL) took over the management and owner-
resources, and democratize management structure. ship of the company and resumed operations. The
The development phase is characterized by efforts scheme prepared by the Kamani Employees Union
aimed at strengthening and consolidating the (KEU) for reviving the unit was subsequently proved to
enterprise by introduction of new production be viable.
methods, modernization of plants and machinery,
development of new products, and exploration of Apart from KTL, workers' cooperatives have come
new financial support. into existence in the Tea Estates of West Bengal and
Tripura, the New Central Jute Mills, Calcutta, the
In the newly formed enterprise, several questions Gujarat Tractor Corporation, Baroda, etc. More details
crop up pertaining to the structure of authority, about these cooperatives are available in Box 1.

16 Vikalpa
Background of Kamani Tubes Limited and allowances of the KTL employees were nearly Rs 2
crore. In September 1985, the owners abandoned KTL.
Kamani Tubes Limited, a family enterprise, came into
The closure took place violating all provisions of law.
existence in 1959 as one of the units of Kamani Group
of industries and is located in Kurla, a Bombay suburb. Nearly 800 workers were rendered jobless at one Stroke.
(Joseph, 1989,1991; Mookhcrjcc, 1988).
A pioneer in manufacturing non-ferrous tubes and
rods, it produced copper and copper-based alloys; brass
Faced with closure, KEU approached the Supreme
Court in April 1986 for a solution. Meanwhile, it ex-
sugar tubes, and admiralty aluminium tubes. KTL
plored other options such as (i) requesting the Govern-
tubes and rods were supplied to key sectors like power
ment of Maharashtra to declare KTL as a Relief
generation, defence, oil refining, sugar, fertilizer, ship-
Undertaking and leave the management of the unit
building, automobiles, refrigeration, and light electri- with the financial institutions or other bodies which
cals. have a stake and start the company under the new set
Although the Kamani Group had set up several up or (ii) finding out another management who could
units, the management had todeal with only one union, buy and take over KTL. However, the government did
viz. the Kamani Employees Union (KEU) which not show willingness to declare KTL as a Relief Under-
covered all the units. The KEU was registered in 1951 taking and no private management responded positive-
as a staff union of the employees of the Kamani Group, ly to KEU's request to take over the crises-ridden KTL.
numbering approximately 4,500. The Union was initial- At this juncture, a new idea was sparked off in the
ly affiliated to the Indian National Trade Union Con- minds of some of the KEU leaders: Form a producer's
gress (1NTUC). Subsequently, a change in Union cooperative of the employees of KTL and run the or-
leadership took place through secret ballot, resulting in ganization. Before the idea concretized, a series of meet-
a shift of affiliation from 1NTUC to the All India Trade ings and discussions were held among the KEU leaders
Union Congress (AITUC). as well as between the leaders and the rank and file
employees. After thorough deliberations regarding the
In the beginning of 1960s, KTL accounted for nearly pros and cons of workers' takeover of KTL, the General
60 per cent of the total domestic output of non-ferrous Body favoured the proposal of running KTL under
tubes. However, the premier position of the company worker management. The workers expressed full con-
started eroding from the beginning of 1970s and it fidence and trust on the KEU leaders who inspired
slowly started incurring losses due to mismanagement confidence and possessed leadership capabilities. The
and legal feud. By the middle of 1985, the accumulated background of the KEU leaders and the external sup-
losses were estimated to be Rs 4.42 crore as against the port they could derive from professional managers,
paid up capital and reserve of Rs 97 lakh only. By the financial consultants, and technical experts further rein-
beginning of 1985, the bankers refused to provide credit forced the workers' favourable attitude towards the
to KTL. From December 1984 onwards, KTL employees proposal of takeover.
had not received their wages. As a gesture of support for the takeover bid and
On behalf of the employees, KEU filed a complaint expression of confidence upon the KEU leaders, the
in the Industrial Court, Bombay, under the workers agreed to pay in the meeting itself a token
Maharashtra Recognition of Trade Unions and Preven- amount of Rs 11 towards a fund for the cooperative. The
tion of Unfair Practices Act, 1971. KEU sought an order overwhelming support of the workers gave a boost to
from the Industrial Court directing KTL to pay the the KEU leaders' morale for proceeding further and
arrears of wages due to the workmen and staff. The working out details about the takeover and formation
Industrial Court adjudged non-payment of wages as an of a workers' cooperative. Accordingly, the KTL Kam-
unfair practice and directed KTL by its order dated dar Audyogik Utpadak~Sahakar Society (KTLSS) was
February 28,1985, to pay, within three weeks of the date formed with a paid up capital of Rs 10 lakh. Each
of the order, the arrears of wages for the months of member contributed Rs 2,000 from his own and Rs
December 1984 and January 1985. The Court further 10,000 by taking loan from IDBI towards the share
ordered that KTL should continue to pay future wages capital of the society. The cooperative was registered in
regularly. Despite the order, KTL did not pay either the
April 1988.
arrears or the regular wages. Even statutory dues such The Process of Takeover
as Provident Fund were not deposited with the ap-
propriate authority. By August 1985, the unpaid wages The evolution of workers' takeover of KTL could be
traced through seven important phases:

Vol.18, No.1, January-March 1993 17


Phase I : Conceptualization of the action plan by recoverables, role of sales officers, procedures adopted
KEU for revival and turnaround for purchases, and any other matter as it deemed neces-
sary.
Phase II : Testing out the workability of the plan
and ensuring adequate support through As regards the management structure of KTL, the
informal discussion and meetings with Board of Directors was reconstituted. The members
union leaders, rank and file workers, ex- included two representatives from the Government of
perts, and well wishers Maharashtra, one from the Industries Department, and
one from the Cooperative Department. There was one
Phase III : Preparation of the blueprint for turn- representative each from IDBI, Bank of India, and BIFR
around and two representatives from KTLSSthe Working
President and the President of KEU who were also
Phase IV : Identification of the source of finance and elected to the Managing Committee of KTLSS, three
working capital and other infrastructural experts, and the Managing Director of the newly
requirement formed KTL as per the recommendations of KEU. The
Phase V : Lobbying, dialogue, and persuasion at last four persons were sympathetic to workers and were
different levels of the government, associated with the preparation of the revival plan from
banks, and financial institutions the very beginning and extended to KEU considerable
technical advice and help in matters of production and
Phase VI : Submitting the revival plan to BIFR and, financial planning. In other words, out of the eleven
after its approval, obtaining legal sanc- members of the Board, six were nominated by the
tion from the Supreme Court for takeover workers.
Phase VII: Recalling earlier employees, resume pro- The choice of the Managing Director was based on
duction, and attain take-off. several considerations: (i) he was a former executive of
one of the units of Kamani Group of industries; (ii) he
Action Plan for Turnaround had a thorough knowledge about the products and
processes involved in non-ferrous metal trade; (iii) he
Management Structure was well conversant with the technical intricacies of
non-ferrous metal market; (iv) he had extended consi-
Consequent upon the release of the Supreme Court derable help, cooperation, and advice to KEU in prepar-
order (dated September 19, 1988) permitting the ing the revival scheme from the beginning; (v) he
employees to take over KTL, it was imperative for the enjoyed the trust and confidence of the workers and the
new management to ensure compliance with the leaders of KEU who believed that he was competent
provisions of the approved revival scheme. This called and capable enough to take up the challenge of manag-
for: (i) reconstitution of the Board of Directors so as to ing KTL under the workers' regime.
enable the employees to be represented in the Board, (ii)
constitution of a Management Committee to facilitate A Management Committee was constituted in KTL
and accelerate the day to day management of the com- which had the Managing Director as its Chairman and
pany. As per the Supreme Court order, the shares of two representatives of KTLSS and one representative of
Kamani's (about 91.6%) and others in KTL of the face Bank of India as its members. In all probability, this
value aggregating to Rs 96 lakh were transferred and Committee, constituted at the instance of the financial
allotted to the workers' cooperative (KTLSS) at a institutions, was a means to resolve conflicts of interests.
reduced value of Rs 1 per share. KTLSS thus became the This Committee was entrusted with the respon-
owner of KTL. sibility of monitoring and reviewing the progress of
work, ensuring product development, formulating
The structure of KTLSS was different from KTL. It
marketing strategy, ensuring fund flow, and develop-
was a separately registered body under the Cooperative
ing personnel systems. The Committee met every
Act and had a Managing Committee elected by the
month to take stock of the situation, monitor the work-
workers through the ballot. Each member was em-
powered to cast only one vote. Each worker had con- ing, and ensure achievement of organizational objec-
tributed an equal amount towards the share capital of tives.
the cooperative. Its Managing Committee comprised of Plant Level Committee
some rank and file workers and the key leaders of KEU.
It reviewed the working of KTL and suggested A Plant Level Committee (PLC) was constituted which
guidelines on such issues as marketing, outstanding of had the following functionaries: Managing Director

18 Vikalpa
(Chairman), Works Manager, Plant Manager, Produc- As a departure from the earlier practice, the super-
tion Manager, Materials Manager, Quality Control visors were advised to devote a major part of their time
Manager, Personnel Officer, two representatives of in product development and quality improvement in-
KEU, three workmen representatives from the shop- stead of routine supervision. Further, a set of 20
floor, and one staff representative. workmen were chosen to become group leaders who,
The functions of PLC which met in the first week of in addition to attending to their own machine, helped
every month, included monitoring day-to-day working in supervision work. The need for routine supervision
of the plant, supervising the progress of work, and was gradually de-emphasized. Contrary to the earlier
ensuring achievement of production targets. The scope practice, the number of peons was reduced from 15 to
of PLC was restricted to the operational and personnel five. The peons were assigned the tasks of filing,
aspects of the plant; the commercial aspects were kept despatch, and other routine clerical work. By this step,
outside its purview. KTL was able to rationalize manpower at the lowest
level and improve the morale of the peons.
Immediate Tasks after Takeover
Marketing and Product Development
After takeover, the Managing Director identified the
following tasks as critical and initiated suitable steps Two important areas in which KTL laid special em-
accordingly: phasis were the formulation of a marketing strategy
and development of new products. In the meetings of
mobilizing working capital the Board of Directors, the Chairman emphasized the
restoring infrastructural services urgency of evolving a clear and definite marketing
policy at KTL and also observed that the company's
organizing repairs and overhauling activities excessive dependence on sugar tubes was not likely to
fetch sustained profits. He, therefore, felt it was high
updating status report regarding assets and time the emphasis was shifted to developing new
liabilities products. KTL had identified two products for
initiating commencement of commercial opera development: brass wires in ball pen industry and fin-
tions ning quality copper tubes for air-conditioning and
refrigeration industries.
streamlining personnel.
Training and Orientation
As regards personnel, the Supreme Court restricted
the total number to be re-employed to 600. In order to elicit appropriate response from workmen
and motivate them to put in their best, it was felt that
In order to build up a team of competent super- upgrading of workers' technical knowledge and skills
visory and administrative staff, it was decided to limit would be necessary. Accordingly, a series of training
the re-employment of existing workers to 575 and to programmes for the workers were organized which
induct them in a phased manner as per operational were conducted by a professional body. The main ob-
requirements. It was decided to recruit the remaining jective of training was to make the workmen under-
25 people afresh in the category of senior manager, stand and comprehend the overall framework of
engineers, supervisors, and administrative staff. managing the manufacturing organization. The
The personnel recruited by the new management of programme focused on: principles of economic theory
KTL increased from 118 in November 1988 to 245 in and finance, principles of work method and value en-
March 1989 and to 588 in November 1989. KTL had also gineering, and principles of management.
engaged the services of professionals for functional Role of KEU
requirements such as Income-tax, Sales-tax, Excise
Duty, Internal Audit, Company Law, Secretarial mat- In the context of workers' management and ownership,
ters, and legal advice. the role and functions of trade unions assume new
dimensions. The KTL experience suggests that KEU
Regarding personnel, four important steps were had undergone a role reversal from a conflict model to
taken: (i) Enlargement of the supervisor's role in the that of cooperation. KEU had also enlarged its role to
plant, (ii) Induction of a group leader from among the encompass the welfare of workers' family and children.
workmen, (iii) Reduction in the number of peons and In the new situation, the role ascribed to KEU was that
attendants, (iv) Ensuring regularity/punctuality in at- of a vigilant organization which would put appropriate
tendance for officers, staff, and workmen. checks on undesirable management practices. The col-

Vol.18, No.l, January-March 1993 19


lective bargaining role of KEU was underemphasized. ment Committee, and the Plant Level Committee. By
KEU leaders had recognized that in the formative years participating in the Board level deliberations, the
after takeover, it should restrict its role to cooperation KTLSS representatives got opportunities to make sig-
and help KTL achieve its stated goals. In compliance nificant contribution to the policy making process of the
with the approved revival package, KEU had per- company. At every stage of decision making with
suaded the workers to agree to the following: (i) wage regard to commercial, operational, and personnel mat-
freeze for the next three years (ii) deferment of annual ters, worker involvement was adequately ensured.
increment for the next two years (iii) cooperation with Even the selection of the Managing Director was made
management to enforce strict discipline (iv) help curb in accordance with the recommendation of KEU and
absenteeism, overtime, and late attendance (v) ban on KTLSS. On all major issues, discussions and negotia-
strike/go-slow, etc. Further, KEU also tackled larger
tions with KEU and KTLSS leaders were accorded ut-
organizational issues such as crew-scheduling, con-
most priority. Open communication at all levels made
formity to production norms, quality improvement,
promotion of internal discipline, and overall target information sharing and consultation possible at KTL.
achievement. It advocated the ideology that as workers Even shopfloor workers knew some vital information
acquired the right to share the prosperity of the about the company which was not possible under the
enterprise, they had to remain accountable to the or- earlier management. The democratic process also
ganization for their wrong doings. Accordingly, KEU brought about significant changes in the work habits
laid special emphasis on educating the workers about and work attitudes of the employees. The employees
the adverse effect of absenteeism, restrictive work prac- became more responsive to the needs of the organiza-
tices, indiscipline, and improper conduct and be- tion and were determined to achieve a turnaround. The
haviour in the workplace on the performance of KTL. performance of KTL after the takeover lends credence
to the devotion and commitment of the entire organiza-
Operational Highlights tion.
Production: KTL manufactured two major products Some important features at KTL under workers'
rods and tubes. The total annual production as well as management were: conformity to ethical management
gross sales of rods and tubesthe two major products
practices, introduction of some innovations with
manufactured by the companyrecorded an increase
regard to product development, diversification of new
in 1990-91 as compared to 1989-90 (Table 1).
product lines, minimizing supervisor's role, and
Profit: KTL increased its turnover from Rs 10.53 crore making supervisors more creative by involving them
in 1989-90 to Rs 14.30 crore in 1990-91 and the company in product development.
made a net profit of Rs 34.00 lakh in the very first year
of operations. The KTL workers received benefits of Rs Prospects for a Workers' Cooperative
1.2 crore and Rs 1.55 crore in the first and second years
respectively. Despite the fact that a few workers' cooperatives have
attained reasonable success in turning around com-
Learning from the panies, the concept of a workers' cooperative is yet to
take a comprehensive shape. There are many grey areas
Turnaround Experience and critical factors which require attention such as: (i)
The KTL experience suggests that its workers' coopera- absence of workers' predisposition towards ownership
tive came into being as a last option in the face of closure and share participation (Lieten, 1987), (ii) apathy of the
and displacement of labour. The need to survive and banks and financial institutions to extend loan services,
sustain had provided the initial impetus to form a (iii) procedural and bureaucratic delays in clearing
workers' cooperative. In this respect, the KTL model workers' proposals, (iv) non-availability of professional
resembles the European experience mentioned by managers ready to serve workers' cooperatives, (v) in-
Paton (1989). different and lukewarm response of mainstream trade
The process of turnaround at KTL corresponds to union movement to workers' cooperatives (Goswami,
the democratic mode of decision making. Democratiza- 1992, Ramaswamy, 1992), and (vi) absence of public
tion of the work process has been ensured by develop- policy to help such cooperatives in a big way.
ing a suitable participatory structure in the form of In order to facilitate the formation of more workers'
inclusion of representatives of KTLSS, KEU, and the cooperatives and add fillip to such efforts of the
shopfloor workers in the Board of Directors, Manage- workers, it is imperative that the Government of India
lends adequate support and constitute a National Board

20 Vikalpa
for Workers' Management (NBWM). The NBWM 4. Moderate size (600 employees) of KTL which
should be accorded statutory status under the Sick In- facilitated closer interaction between different
dustrial Companies (Special Provision) Act, 1985, or work groups which in turn gave rise to a feeling
any other suitable legislation. The government should of togetherness and homogenity.
ensure adequate finance for running the activities of the
Board through regular budgetary allotment. The 5. Presence of a single union (KEU) unaffected by
management of NBWM could be vested with a tripar- inter-union rivalry and its consequent damages.
tite body comprising of: (i) representatives from the 6. Strong leadership provided by both KEU leaders
government (ii) representatives of those trade unions and the Managing Director.
who are instrumental in the formation of workers'
cooperatives and who have been successful in their External
efforts (iii) technical experts in the areas of manage- 1. Continued external support from banks and finan
ment, finance, production, marketing, and related cial institutions and professionals in the areas of
spheres (iv) representatives from banks and financial finance, marketing, production, etc.
institutions (v) professionals and academicians who are
ready to volunteer their services to the Board. 2. Consistent sympathy and judicial support from
the Supreme Court of India.
The main task of NBWM should be to extend advice
to the workers of closed units who desire to revive the 3. Media coverage and publicity which helped
enterprise through workers' cooperatives. The NBWM opinion building in favour of workers' takeover
should carefully study the feasibility of workers' and acted as a morale booster for the workers.
cooperatives as an alternative for turnaround of sick These factors combined together helped KTL suc-
enterprises. It should also advise on the availability of ceed in the turnaround. It is hoped that the experiential
initial working capital and finance for starting the learning emerging from the KTL experience would pro-
cooperative. Continuous monitoring and review of the vide a framework for handling other similar situations.
workers' cooperative formed under its guidance would
also be an important task of the Board. The Board itself
may not offer any financial support but can help the
concerned cooperative to find out the sources of
finance. The constitution of NBWM is at present limited
to the conceptual level. To concretize the idea, detailed
modalities have to be worked out after considerable
debate and discussion.

Conclusions
The KTL experience lends credence to the argument
that in the event of increasing sickness and closure of
an enterprise, a viable alternative of restructuring
would be to allow workers to form cooperatives and
provide necessary financial and infrastructure support
to enable them turn around the enterprise. The factors
which contributed to KTL's turnaround are both inter-
nal arid external which can be summarized as follows:
Internal
1. Workers' strong urge for survival.
2. Workers' readiness to undergo suffering and
sacrifice.
3. Ownership of capital which infused self-con
fidence in the workers' mind and made them
responsive to the needs of the organization.

Vol.18, No. l, January-March 1993


21
Box 1: Salient Features of Select Workers' Cooperatives in India

Name of the Genesis Leadership Performance


Cooperative

Saongaon Tea &: Allied Born out of closure of tea Chabagan Workers' Plantation revived.
Plantation Workers' gardens. Owners suf- Union affiliated to AITUC Marked improvement in
Cooperative,Jalpaiguri fered heavy losses. production. Input of fer-
(West Bengal) (Bhoumik. Withdrew assets worth tilizer, pesticides,
1988a) Rs 25 crore. Left behind weedicides increased.ln-
liabilities of about Rs 35 come of the workers
crore. Owners aban- went up by 50%.
doned the tea estates. Cooperative accumu-
Workers lost employmcmt lated savings of
R. 71akh

Tea Plantation Workers' Retrenchment and loss of Tripura Tea Workers' Revived and Increased
Cooperative in Kailashar, employment due to Union (OTU). The thC!n production of tea sub-
Ourgabari, Ludua, Dar- owners' mismanagement left government in stantially. Expanded the
ranadilla, Mayangtuka, Tripura extended sup- area under tea. Uprooted
Aichuk. Dimatoli, Khowai, port and encouragement old bushes and replanted
Lilagarh, Tripura in the form of subsidy, new bushes. Improved ir-
(Bhoumlk. 1988b) loan and grant-in aid rigation system in the
garden. Recorded satis-
factory financial perfor-
mance. Retrenched
workers reemployed.
Welfare and other
amenities to workers res-
tored

New Central Jute Mill, Cal- The mill belonged to the All14 unions existing in Workers prepared a
cutta (Scta\vad and Bose, Sahu-Jain group. the mill combined revival package which
1992) Recorded substantial los- together and provided was sanctioned by BIFR.
ses from 1970 onwards. leadership for a workers' Current turnover Is
Lack of available fund. cooperative around Rs 80 crore. Rs 4
Meagre market share. crore cash profits
Employees' dues totalled predicted In 1992 The
about Rs 10 crore. The mill under workers'
mill defaulted to State management has gone
Bank of India a total of for modernization and
Rs 7 crore. Accumulated shifted attention to
losses were around Rs 55 manufacture of non-
crore. About 10,000 traditional items such as
workers were on the bleached and dyed hes-
verge of being thrown sian, soft luggage
out of employment material, floor coverings
and light cam. Currently,
the workers hold control-
ling interest to the tune
of 52%. The State Govern-
ment stake stands at 41%
and the balance owned
by banks and financial in-
stitutions

22 Vikalpa
Name of the Genesis LeAdership Perfor7rlllJ'U:e
Cooperative

Parishram, Adarsh, Ak- Eight cooperatives came Leadership and Cooperatives worked as
shay, Pragati, Mahashakti, into being between 1987 patronage was provided ancillary units and sup-
Ajay, Sarvodaya, Urja of and 1990at theGujarat by the Managing Oirec- . plied to CTCL com-
CuJarat Tractor Corpora- Tractor Corporation Ltd tor,OTCL ponents and spare parts
tion Ltd. (OTCL) Baroda as a measure to which were earlier pur-
(Mookhcrjee, 1992) rehabilitate some of the chased by CTCL from
workers who had ac- open market. Each
cepted the corporation's society is making profit
offer of voluntary retire- and has increased turn-
ment. Sickness was over and earnings of
caused by under-utiliza- members. Average earn-
tion of plant capacity, ings of workers is around
high percentage of rejec- Rs 6000 per month. Strict
tion, rising cost of wage production schedule
and salary, inadequate maintained. Delivers
network of distribution finished products to
and dealership of trac- OTCL in time. Rejection
tors, falling market share, hasbccnrcduced.Each
growing competition society hu attumulated
from other tractor some assets. After meet-
manufacturers, under- ing the liabilities, involve-
utilization of manpower ment of the worken has
and restrictive work prac- increased and work
tices habits have changed to
productionorienation.
The cooperatives helped
GTCL reduce its losses
and increase the sale and
turnover of tractors

Workers' Cooperative in . The cooperative came The Chairman and )MEL was revtved from
jalpur Metal and Electri- into being as an offshoot Managing Director with the brlnk of closure and
cals Ltd. (JMEL) (Joseph, of workers' participation active cooperation of four liquidation and put on
1992, Mookherjce, 1988) introduced in }MEL in unions affiliated to the rail. Production and
the form of Plant Level AITUC, CITU, INTUC, productivity Increased.
Committee, Planning and and BMS Quality of products im-
Production Committee, proved. Market share ex-
Purchase and Sales Com- panded, worken allotted
mittee, and Communica- equity sharos and nearly
tion Committee as a turn- 66% of the total equity of
around strategy }MEL is currently held by
the workers through the
employee cooperatives.
Two workers appointed
as Directors in the Board

Vo1.18, No.1, January-March 1993 23


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24 Vikalpa

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