>Tom.Reding: +{{Authority control}} (1 ID from Wikidata), WP:GenFixes on

2021-03-19T15:03:50Z

+{{Authority control}} (1 ID from Wikidata), WP:GenFixes on

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
The '''Great Bombay Textile Strike''' was a textile [[Strike action|strike]] called on 18 January 1982 by the mill workers of Mumbai under trade union leader [[Dutta Samant]]. The purpose of the strike was to obtain bonus and increase in wages. Nearly 250,000 workers of 65 [[textile mill]]s went on strike in Mumbai.<ref name="a">{{cite news
|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jan/18sld2.htm
|title=The Great Mumbai Textile Strike... 25 Years On
|date=2007-01-18
|publisher=[[Rediff.com|Rediff.com India Limited]]
|access-date=2008-11-20}}</ref>

==History of mills in Bombay==
{{Main|Mumbai mills}}
Built in 1887, ''Swadeshi'' was Bombay's first [[textile mill]], the first of the factories that spread over many parts of the island city in the next decades. Rastriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh was the officially recognized union of the Mills. By 1982, a new militant union leader by the name of Datta Samant had arrived on the scene. Earlier he had got major wage increases for workers of Premier Automobiles and a section of the Mill workers were hoping for the same. The major difference between Premier Automobiles and the Mills was that the former was a very profitable company and the mills were all sick units. Later that year Dutta Samant led the textile strike, over 240,000 people worked in Girangaon.<ref name="c">{{cite journal
|url = http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1808/18081030.htm
|title = A raw deal and desperation
|journal = [[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]]
|author = Praveen Swami
|author-link = Praveen Swami
|access-date = 2008-11-20
|volume = 18
|issue = 8
|date = 14–27 April 2001
|publisher = [[The Hindu]]
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100531055708/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1808/18081030.htm
|archive-date = 2010-05-31
}}</ref>

==Protests==
In late 1981, Dutta Samant was chosen by a large group of Bombay mill workers to lead them in a precarious conflict between the Bombay Millowners Association and the unions, thus rejecting the [[INTUC]]-affiliated [[Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh]] which had represented the mill workers for decades. Samant planned a massive strike forcing the entire industry of the city to be shut down for over a year. It was estimated that nearly 250,000 workers went on strike and more than 50 [[textile mill]]s were shut in Bombay permanently.
Samant demanded that, along with wage hikes, the government scrap the [[Bombay Industrial Act of 1947]] and that the RMMS would no longer be the only official union of the city industry. While fighting for greater pay and better conditions for the workers, Samant and his allies also sought to capitalize and establish their power on the trade union scene in Mumbai. Although Samant had links with the Congress and Maharashtra politician [[Abdul Rehman Antulay]], [[Prime Minister of India|Prime Minister]] [[Indira Gandhi]] considered him a serious political threat. Samant's control of the mill workers made the Congress leaders fear that his influence would spread to the port and dock workers and make him the most powerful union leader in India's commercial capital. Thus the government took a firm stance of rejecting Samant's demands and refusing to budge despite the severe economic losses suffered by the city and the industry. As the strike progressed through the months, Samant's militancy in the face of government obstinacy led to the failure of any attempts at negotiation. Disunity and dissatisfaction over the strike soon became apparent, and many [[textile mill]] owners began moving their plants outside the city. After a prolonged and destabilizing confrontation, the strike collapsed with no concessions having been obtained for the workers. The closure of textile mills across the city left tens of thousands of mill workers unemployed and, in the succeeding years, most of the industry moved away from Bombay after decades of being plagued by rising costs and union militancy. It is one reason why some industry in India settled in [[Gujarat]] Although Samant remained popular with a large block of union activists, his clout and control over Bombay trade unions disappeared.<ref name="b">{{cite news|last=Anand|first=Javed|title=In the experience of blue-collared men, he remained the only trade union leader who put workers before politics| url=http://www.rediff.com/news/jan/17javed.htm |date=1997-01-17 |work=[[Rediff.com]]}}</ref>

==Consequences==
The majority of the over 80 mills in Central Mumbai closed during and after the strike, leaving more than 150,000 workers unemployed.<ref name="da">{{cite news
|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050326/nation.htm#11
|title=Maharashtra may give more mills' land for public use
|author=Shiv Kumar
|date=2005-03-25
|newspaper=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]
|access-date=2008-11-20}}</ref> The textile industry in Mumbai has largely disappeared, reducing labour migration after the strikes.<ref name="dgg">{{cite news
|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/businessline/2000/03/25/stories/122544b1.htm
|title=India Interior
|author=P Devarajan
|date=2000-03-25
|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]
|access-date=2008-11-20
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928103235/http://www.hinduonnet.com/businessline/2000/03/25/stories/122544b1.htm
|archive-date=28 September 2008
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

One of the consequences of the strike's failure was that labour laws in the country were mellowed and 'liberalized' since unions lost their foothold. Until 1980s, labour laws were stringent to appease the unions.
As labour market became less transparent and unified, exploitative placement agencies popped up in the city, so a large population moved to contractual employment, which lacked all the benefits of organised sector like provident funds or even job security. This job insecurity also pushed a lot of the youth, especially Maharashtrian youth into the arms of regional party [[Shiv Sena]], so even if their parents had been communists, the children became Shiv Sainiks.
The industries in Mumbai shut down and moved to the periphery or to other states as the land became real estate gold mine. Mumbai's functional nature changed from being industrial to commercial.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/Industry/PyqCrPOCAfRYBw22YquB2N/Untangling-the-knot-between-Mumbai-and-its-mills.html|title=Untangling the knot between Mumbai and its mills|last=Bhattacharya|first=Pramit|date=2012-08-19|website=Livemint|language=en|access-date=2020-01-17}}</ref>

==Popular culture==
The city was remade by the Dutta Samant-led textile strike.<ref name="dga">{{cite news
|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/remember-bombay/379126/
|title=Remember Bombay
|author=Amrita Shah
|date=2008-10-30
|newspaper=[[The Indian Express|Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd.]]
|access-date=2008-11-20}}</ref> Many [[Bollywood]] film directors started making politically relevant films on textile strikes in Bombay, and [[textile mill]] strikes have become an important theme of modern-day Indian films. Producer Sangeeta Ahir, who is also a co-founder of the NGO Shree Sankalp Pratisthan<ref>{{cite web|title=Shree Sankalp Pratishthan|url=http://www.shreesankalp.org/trustee.html#main|publisher=www.shreesankalp.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Govinda|url=http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/Stars-to-shine-at-Shri-Sankalp-Pratishthan/articleshow/16225195.cms|newspaper=Mumbai Mirror}}</ref> is making a film on the Great Bombay Textile Strike worker movement of the city.<ref name="dra">{{cite news
|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bombay_Times/Whos_the_mill_worker/articleshow/2253140.cms
|title= Who's the mill worker?
|author=Nisha Tiwari
|date=2007-07-04
|work=[[Bombay Times]]
|publisher=[[The Times of India]]
|access-date=2008-11-20}}</ref>

* [[Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai]], a 1980 film directed by [[Saeed Akhtar Mirza]]
* [[City of Gold (2010 film)]] - directed by [[Mahesh Manjrekar]]
* [[Bombay Velvet]], a 2015 film by [[Anurag Kashyap]]

==See also==
*[[History of Mumbai]]
*[[Growth of Mumbai]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[http://cssh.unipune.ernet.in/HumanRights/06%20STATE%20INDUSTRY%20AND%20WORKERS/28.pdf Murder of Mills]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} from Girgao Bachao Andaolan (26 April 2000)
*[http://www.india-seminar.com/2002/519/519%20books.htm Ripping the Fabric: The Decline of Mumbai and its Mills] by Darryl D’Monte. Oxford University Press, [[Delhi]], 2002
*[[Rajni Bakshi]]. 1986. ''The Long Haul: The Bombay Textile Workers Strike of 1982-83''
*[[H van Wersch]]. 1992. "The Bombay Textile Strike, 1982-83". Oxford University Press

==External links==
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/1996/16datta.htm An interview with Datta Samant] from [[Rediff.com]]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:History of Mumbai (1947–present)]]
[[Category:General strikes]]
[[Category:Economic history of India (1947–present)]]
[[Category:1982 in India]]
[[Category:1982 labor disputes and strikes]]
[[Category:Labour disputes in India]]
[[Category:Textile industry in Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Textile and clothing strikes]]
[[Category:1980s in Mumbai]]
[[Category:Economy of Mumbai]]
[[Category:History of the textile industry in India]]

Great Bombay textile strike - Revision history

>Tom.Reding: +{{Authority control}} (1 ID from Wikidata), WP:GenFixes on