The Datta Samant textile strike was a major labor dispute that took place in Bombay (now known as Mumbai), India in the 1980s. The strike was led by union leader Datta Samant and involved over 250,000 workers from the city's textile mills.
The dispute began in 1982, when Samant and his union, the Mumbai Mill Mazdoor Sangh, demanded higher wages and better working conditions for the workers. The mill owners, however, refused to negotiate, and the strike quickly turned into a prolonged and bitter struggle.
The strike was notable for its widespread participation and the strong solidarity shown by the workers. Despite facing violence, intimidation, and legal challenges from the mill owners and the government, the workers remained resolute in their demands for fair treatment.
The strike also attracted widespread attention and support from other unions, political parties, and civil society groups, who saw it as a symbol of the struggle for workers' rights in India. The strike was eventually settled in 1988, with the workers winning significant concessions, including higher wages and improved working conditions.
The Datta Samant textile strike was a major event in India's labor history and had a lasting impact on the country's labor movement. It demonstrated the power of collective action and the importance of standing up for one's rights, and it set a precedent for other unions to follow in their own struggles for justice.
Evaluate the impact of the Bombay Mill Strike of 1982.
Nine mills including Standard Mills were to pay the highest amount whereas thirty-four mills were to pay less than 12. Outside the textile industry, the labour unionist's dominant hold in the Thane-Belapur industrial belt remains virtually unchanged. Photo: Public domain During the strike, the majority of the private mill owners had sub-contracted cloth production to Bhiwandi, the power loom centre on the outskirts of Mumbai. He negotiated and fought to win. Credit: Wikipedia Commons If they had thought that they would be received with open arms they were in for a rude shock. The committee decides to make a second report separately for the private mills. Sena leader Bal Thackeray at once called for a one-day strike on the first of November, putting up a charter of demands in which a wage increase of not less than Rs 200 per month was claimed.
Dada Samant, trade union leader who lived in the shadow of younger brother Datta
One day, thousands of workers from the textile mills walked across to his home and demanded that he lead them. Following the 1982-83 strike, the Mumbai mill workers found themselves in a state of involuntary servitude. Many may not be aware that Soma Textiles is one of the pioneers of denim fabrics in India along with Arvind Mills. He was brave enough to change tack and demand that if mill land was sold, a share must go to mill workers. There are only around 80,000 mill workers left and their jobs too are at stake. Buoyed by the success, he led the strike of over 2,40,000 textile workers who were also demanding a major wage increase.
As many as 10 textile mills close down with the owners citing accumulated losses as a reason. Although it is not too difficult to find examples of strikes lasting longer than the officially acknowledged eighteen-and-a-half months that the textile strike lasted, or involving more people than the roughly 2. Samant organised a huge public meeting at Bombay. Abandoned machinery at Madhusudan Mills, Lower Parel. Yet, dramatic events lay ahead. It insists that 80% of the private and public sector jobs be reserved for Marathi-speaking people Maharashtrians. The united platform of mill unions is still working, and the struggle to make sure that the decision to provide all mill workers with homes is ongoing.
Thus, while Samant has lost his standing in units like Bush India. She herself worked extensively with Com. To be continued… Feature image: Abandoned machinery at Madhusudan Mills, Lower Parel. These demands shocked the employers. Mill owners used this opportunity to grab the precious real estate. Agreements in the last quarter, in fact, show his spectacular success.
Meena Menon writes: Datta Iswalkar lived and breathed for the textile workers of the city and for their right to live and work there
Speculations: Outside the closely-united textile world too, industrialists speculated hopefully that the militant hard-liner was finished as labour boss in the Bombay-Thane belt where he has reigned supreme for the last half decade. On May 18 the cotton textile strike led by militant labour leader Dr Datta Samant completed four months, surprising most union watchers, industrialists and government officials who had predicted that it would fizzle out in half the time. Hub van Wersch is a social anthropologist at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. During his many interactions with Dada Samant, Joshi felt a lack of assertiveness in the leader. This is hardly followed in the coming years. They are asked to join afresh as new recruits.
Datta Samant, the Congress, and the beginning of the end By the 1980s, leftist parties in Bombay had become weak and the number of mill workers in the city had gone up to around 2. After 5 months and a huge loss of person-days, the strike concludes more or less successfully. In the private sector Tata company town of Jamshedpur, an industrial working class was constructed during the late colonial period from labour migrants, whose employment became heritable within families. While some workers had been already agitating about wage issues with their respective employers, this was a concerted, industry-wide action that left mill owners and the government stunned. He is also a novelist. And that means there is a dangerous vacuum for leadership, so you can't rule out a come-back at some stage for Samant.
By early July, over 1. Jubilant about their win over Dr Datta Samant whose strike call on January 18, 1982, brought 62 mills and their work-force of 2. One by one, the Shiv Sena and Congress took back the mills and then destroyed them. Although some industrial unions, particularly in Nasik, have undoubtedly left Samant's fold, this is in fact different from the shifts and changes which took place in earlier years. No right, title or interest in any materials or software, if applicable, on this Service is transferred to you from your use of this Service. Many workers lost their jobs, and went back to their villages or took up casual labour, others moved to smaller towns like Bhiwandi, Malegaon and Icchalkaranji, to work in the powerloom sector. Phoenix Mills, Parel, which is now a shopping mall.
webapi.bu.edu: The Great Mumbai Textile Strike... 25 Years On
The two sides agree not to extend the rationalisation to new mills, to undo the wage cuts, and to submit the charter of demands to a commission of enquiry. Having reached the stage of open confrontation, the four-month-old textile strike was moving slowly and inexorably towards a dangerous flash-point. For those mills in which renovation into shopping malls takes place, however, no land has to be parted with, for example, Phoenix Towers. Through a historical analysis of urbanisation, migration and employment policy, we consider how elite workforces that bound themselves according to the principles of autochthony and descent were formed in the social laboratories of India´s steel towns. 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 and resolution. Image: Construction activity at Elphinstone Mill Also see: rediff.
