In the WTF dept., “Hyundai Motor India is planning to shift production of one of its premium models to Europe after a strike over unionization at its south India plant that led to the mass arrest of 750 protesters,” reports Financial Times.
The move reflects growing skepticism of international automakers about the political climate in what used to be one of the world’s most promising growth markets.
Hyundai plans to move production of its i20 compact saloon to a so-far-undisclosed location in Europe. It will be closer to its target market, as 80,000 of the 120,000 i20s to be produced were slated for export, mostly to Europe.
Mahindra & Mahindra reports that workers at one of its plants are on strike also.
Tata Motors, the country’s largest automaker, was forced last year to relocate a plant for the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, after protests by farmers.
India has a bad reputation for an unpredictable business environment. According to the FT, prolonged problems “in labor relations would be worrying for India’s hopes of becoming an industrial power.”
When the UAW/CAW act like this we give them billons of dollars. Maybe these guys are on to something.
Well, that’s because India is the largest democracy in the world. If you don’t want to hear the voice of the people, try China. The Chinese police (or even army) will aid you in cracking down unions and strikes.
wsn: not that I think India’s democracy is the best of the breed, but you beat me to it.
Having visited India several time on business, I am finally understanding how it is characterized as a third world country with first world civil rights.
Looks like Hyundai is taking one for democracy.
India is corrupt and chaotic, and the courts move slowly but it is a democracy for better or worse.
I still contend you have better contract rights when just about everyone you are doing business with isn’t tied to the government. Perhaps the growth of private enterprises like BYD and Geely will change things in China.
India has the advantage of being a former British colony. The Brits did colonialism properly.
I have an idea, why not move Hyundai production to Michigan? The plant in Dundee already builds engines for them, Chrysler and Daimler so they know there are skilled workers here. Plenty of available assy space too, I understand Chrysler has a fairly modern plant in Sterling Hts that will be available soon.
This is British Disease. All around the world, Commonwealth countries exhibit the labor ethics of a Welsh coalminer. This contamination is fading in Canada somewhat, though Wal-Mart learned some hard lessons when it stupidly opened stores in the province of Quebec.
All around the world, Commonwealth countries exhibit the labor ethics of a Welsh coalminer.
If I knew what that meant it might be funny!
I dearly hope you say that with a very aristocratic British accent.
I suspect the situation is a little different than the situation in Detroit.
The halfwits in management in Detroit would talk tough for the papers then would give in as it didn’t really matter as morons kept on buying cars. We see the results of that today.
In India the place has a thin veneer of democracy(thicker than its neighbors admittedly)covering a squalid corrupt racist regime that fancy themselves the new maharahjahs (that treat employees as such) that will not hesitate to repress by any means necessary.
Speaking of neighbors, the ruling class in Pakistan is terrified that its own poor, in much the same situation as their friends across the border, will take advantage of the chaos created by Pushtun Tribesman (in the shape of the Taliban) surging out of the Hindu Kush in to the Punjab and Sind Provinces. Its not a stretch to see that happing in India.
The Brits did colonialism properly.
1776 anyone?
When the UAW/CAW act like this we give them billons of dollars. Maybe these guys are on to something.
Not even remotely the same. The CAW/UAW haven’t really struck, in the sense that these people have, in some time.
India is, from what I’ve read, real problems brewing between the up and coming middle class, a significant amount of urban poor and an ascendant Hindu right-wing. At some point it needs sorting out, and I hope it sorts out in a humane fashion and not the way, say, Mexico is in danger of going.
The trick is, of course, poverty. It breeds anger and resentment, and if it can be wielded by not-so-nice people, it’s a powerful and unfortunate weapon. If they can lick the poverty issue, much of this goes away. India was on it’s way before the worldwide economic collapse put a pothole in it’s path.
Well, that’s because India is the largest democracy in the world. If you don’t want to hear the voice of the people, try China. The Chinese police (or even army) will aid you in cracking down unions and strikes.
China has a similar problem just waiting in the wings. The same growing middle class, the same envy and strife. It could be even worse as there’s no democratic safety valve.
The Brits did colonialism properly
A lot of Africa would like to have a word with you about that. So might the Palestinians. Heck, there’s a lot of people in India still twitchy about the whole Pakistan thing. Oh, and the native Americans. And the Quebecois. And the Irish.
The British had a nasty habit of walking away from their mess when it was expedient. Sometimes it worked out ok (Canada), sometimes less so (Ireland), sometimes really not so (Palestine).
But yes, they weren’t as outright horrific as the Dutch and Spanish, but we’re talking about degrees of awfulness from “bad” to “hellish”.
Very true. The worst habit that we Brits developed was to just draw a line on a map, call it ‘good enough’, and walk away. That such lines cut across racial cultural and religious boundaries wasn’t even seen as significant. A good proportion of the World’s trouble spots tend to centre around regions where us Brits drew a few lines on a map.
In defence of the old Empire, following WW2 we were effectively forced to cut loose the majority of our colonies and protectorates with a heavy emphasis on the speed of the disengagement rather than the wisdom.
Tensions within the former colonies didn’t always help matters – witness Ian Smith and UDI in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
A lot of Africa would like to have a word with you about that. So might the Palestinians. Heck, there’s a lot of people in India still twitchy about the whole Pakistan thing. Oh, and the native Americans. And the Quebecois. And the Irish.
Aborigines in Australia, Maoris in New Zealand and are joining that queue as well.
You have to add the Belgians to the mix just for what they did in Africa.
The Portuguese, I don’t know enough about, but they certainly got around.
Re. the Indian situation, didn’t the local people stop the construction of the Nano factory and force Tata to come up with a plan B?
Hyundai is a smart company, they know that Europe is stable politically, and that labor costs are low in eastern Europe. They’re already making cars in Slovakia, as is Kia, and both factories are fine.
Nothing is more expensive than a strike and peaceful labor relations are worth somewhat higher wages. No WTF for me here — except that I don’t understand how the i20 could be called a premium car.
India does have some pretty staggering poverty problems. I was in Mumbai a year ago, and between the hotel I was staying at and the office I was working at, one time I had to step over a dead guy on the way to work. Dude was still there getting fresher and fresher when I was walking back to the hotel that same day. Had to look twice on that one, no one else in the bustle seemed to care.
I think that’s why India’s economic export so far has been almost all people fleeing and/or something you can send over a wire. Companies can’t trust the local authorities for anything more than a shakedown, so they literally try to wall-off the corruption and squalor from their operation. All the big outsource firms like Wipro and Infosys organize their office campuses like tiny cities, even their own cops, sewage and utilities (and I would guess, dead guy pick-up service). Can’t do that with a factory, so there’s not many factories in India.
The one “gift” of British colonialism that helps India is all the resulting English speakers. Without that, India wouldn’t be an outsource destination, and the place would be like it was in the eighties: the problems and sectarian strife of Pakistan, but bigger and poorer.
Without trivializing the importance of the Indian experience, I’d suggest that we’re on the cusp of a Jerry Springer-like episode of our own with the CAW/UAW. I’ve been following some of the Chrysler threads in the Topix website, and the sense that the union members were sold down the river by Leadership is ripe and pungent. Did they know there’d be a slew of announced closings prior to the vote? Did they attempt to solidify the solvency of International House with the stock-for-VEBA compromise at the expense of jobs? Did they attempt to extract any commitments to keep any work that was left from non-U.S. sites, and at least keep American workers employed? Although the atmosphere doesn’t seem to be as incendiary on this side of the pond as it is in India, once everyone pulls themselves off the mat and the testosterone starts pumping, watch out…..more to come, I’m sure!
Indian so-called “middle class” is just as poisoned by the socialism as the poor. I heard outwardly sensible people talking about taxes on “luxuries” such as… cars. They also use terms like “offensive opulence” etc.
# HEATHROI :
May 8th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
The Brits did colonialism properly.
1776 anyone?
Canada, the US, Hong Kong, India, Israel. In Africa, the former Brit colonies are more functional that the French, German and Belgian colonies. The Belgians killed maybe 10 million in the Congo. The Brits put in courts, trains, schools, a postal system and all in the commonwealth were equal subjects of the crown (at least theoretically).
The Brits did colonialism properly
A lot of Africa would like to have a word with you about that. So might the Palestinians. Heck, there’s a lot of people in India still twitchy about the whole Pakistan thing. Oh, and the native Americans. And the Quebecois. And the Irish.
What are Palestinians? One can search in vain for any history of a group of Arabs self-identifying as “Palestinians” prior to 1938. Palestinians are as much of a legal fiction as Yugoslavs. Regarding colonialism, the foundational myth of the Palestinians claims that the 1948 “naqba”, catastrophe was the Jews expelling them from their indigenous homeland. Trouble is that the term “naqba” first appears in the writings of Arabs in Palestine in 1920, decrying how greater “Syria” was split up between France and England in the wake of the Armistice and collapse of the Ottoman empire. They didn’t call themselves Palestinians then, but rather Syrians upset at how they’d been cleaved from their close clan members in Syria.
Native Americans? You mean Siberians who wiped out those who came before them?
Quebecois? Your PC world starts getting a little confusing. Aren’t they just French exploiters of the natives? Or is there a hierarchy of greivance?
The British had a nasty habit of walking away from their mess when it was expedient. Sometimes it worked out ok (Canada), sometimes less so (Ireland), sometimes really not so (Palestine).
Until the financial mess, Ireland was one of Europe’s success stories. As for “Palestine”. Israel is a functioning first world country. The Jews in Palestine during the 30s and 40s took the attitude that they’d fight the British blockade of Jewish immigrants to Palestine as though the Nazis didn’t exist and they’d help the British war effort as though the blockade didn’t exist. The Arabs decided to place their bets on the Nazis. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, spent the war in Berlin, met with Hitler and helped raise the Handschar SS division of Balkan Muslims. Israel has undoubted benefited from the British mandate.
But yes, they weren’t as outright horrific as the Dutch and Spanish, but we’re talking about degrees of awfulness from “bad” to “hellish”.
The French were possibly worse than the Spanish. The Germans were bad and the Belgians may have been the worst of the bunch.
French colonies in the Caribbean treated slaves as disposable. The Spanish were better and the Brits were better yet – with the Royal Navy eventually putting an end to the slave trade.
Look at the island of Hispaniola, where Columbus first landed. The Dominican Republic is Spanish while Haiti is French. The DR isn’t wealthy but it functions.
Everybody thinks of the Belgians as makers of nice chocolates and neutral Euros, but they committed a huge genocide in Africa.
The Brits weren’t perfect but I kind of like Charles Napier on the cultures of India and Britain.
Israel is a functioning first world country.
Thanks to billions of American Tax dollar our government is covertly and overtly channeling to that country.
If you don’t want to hear the voice of the people, try China. The Chinese police (or even army) will aid you in cracking down unions and strikes.
This has nothing to do with “the voice of the people” or “cracking down unions”. It is about making the best decision for Hyundai and its shareholders. Can’t blame them for that.
This is British Disease. All around the world, Commonwealth countries exhibit the labor ethics of a Welsh coalminer. This contamination is fading in Canada somewhat
Yeah, the contamination is fading all right… Canada is a real socialist paradise.
We have striking public transit workers and other government workers blocking traffic and using physical intimidation when you try to get to where you’re going. And they have every legal right to do so. The police do nothing about it.
No wonder the Great White North is a manufacturing pariah.
Ahh orientalism.
Ronnie,
The largest trade in the 17th century was between India and China, the second largests between India and Arabia. Colonialism in India served the British well as they profited immensely from control of these trade routes.
The British siphoned off a tremondous amount of wealth and the deaths that occurred in the British engineered Bengal famines in the early 20th century match those of the Holocaust. Yea they built the railroads and a postal system, but a number of wealthy country’s managed to those things without being subject to colonial domination.
– Birju
seems as though ‘Mission Civilatrice’ is alive and well in some peoples minds.
Ahh orientalism.
Said was a fraud.
Israel is a functioning first world country.
Thanks to billions of American Tax dollar our government is covertly and overtly channeling to that country.
Actually, Israel was a pretty well functioning country before US aid started increasing after the 1973 war. Most of that aid, btw, comes back to the US in the form of military purchases. Some of that aid goes towards the development of defense systems used by the US, including the latest tank defense system, Trophy.
So the British Empire’s legacy is that workers will stand up for themselves if they think they are being abused by management? Presumably because they can more or less trust the police and legal system to protect their rights?
I’m pretty cool with that. I’m a bit surprised that some American people aren’t.
Given the same message repeated over and over again, turkeys can be persuaded to vote for Thanksgiving.
Ronnie Schreiber:
>>India has the advantage of being a former British colony. The Brits did colonialism properly.
And when you say proper, does that mean only 10m famine deaths in India alone. Famines before British rule had protocols between regions. Grain and other essentials were redistributed rather efficiently.
I enjoy how the British even want to take credit for “uniting” India or “putting it on the map”. Ahh, I guess all those disparate states in Europe would rather be consolidated into one federal republic. After all Sweden and Greece have as much in common as Rajasthan and Tripura.
“Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World” by Mark Davis:
“Davis dives into the data and journalism of the period with a vengeance, showing that the seemingly unprecedented droughts across northern Africa, India and China in the 1870s and 1890s are consistent with what we now know to be El Ni¤o’s effects, and that it was political and market forces (which are never impersonal, Davis insists), and not a lack of potential stores and transportation, that kept grain from the more than 50 million people who starved to death. Chapters brilliantly reconstruct the political, economic, ecological and racial climate of the time, as well as the horrific deaths by hunger and thirst that besieged the peasantries of the afflicted c0untries.”
psarhjinian :
May 8th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
But yes, they weren’t as outright horrific as the Dutch and Spanish, but we’re talking about degrees of awfulness from “bad” to “hellish”.
I doubt anyone could be as bad as the Spanish.
Interesting study came up last year… seems that island nations colonized by western powers show a trend in economic and social development… with the British at the top and the Spanish and Portugese at the bottom of the heap…
Martin Schwoerer :
May 8th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I don’t understand how the i20 could be called a premium car.
It is in India. It’s a million times better than a Maruti… and much more expensive…
I’m actually impressed by the workmanship in Indian-made (versus Chinese) cars… Marutis are cheap tin-cans, but at least some care and precision is put into their assembly. And the indian-made Hyundai i10 is light-years ahead of its competition in terms of fit and finish.