21/04/2026
RED SALUTE TO FACTORY WORKERS’ PROTEST AGAINST EXPLOITATION BY THE STATE–CORPORATE NEXUS!
Dear Comrades and Friends,
As you all have witnessed, there is massive outrage across the industrial belt of North India in Noida, Manesar, and Gurugram, where thousands of factory workers have come out unitedly demanding higher wages and better working conditions. This anger from the great workers, who run the entire industry with their hard work, blood, and sweat, is not sudden at all. It is the result of years of exploitation, falling real wages, and worsening working conditions imposed on contract and migrant workers. It is severely related to the economic crisis, unemployment, and exploitative conditions. created by neoliberal economic policies adopted by the Indian State, which enable corporates to suck the blood of workers.
The current wave of struggles can be traced back to Panipat in February 2026, after the death of workers at the IOCL plant. When workers demanded accountability and safer conditions, the state responded with repression, FIRs, surveillance, and even attempts to block communication from inside the factory. Despite this, workers fought back and secured partial gains through great united resistance. This moment became a turning point, inspiring workers across the NCR industrial belt to organize and resist.
In Noida, the movement began on 9 April 2026 at Richa Global Exports. Within days, it spread to multiple factories in the area Idemia Syscom, Motherson, Paramount, Sahu Exports, Rainbow Fabart, and Anubhav Apparels, turning into a wider industrial action. At the same time, in IMT Manesar (Haryana), thousands of workers across factories like Richa Global, Satyam Auto, Munjal Showa, and Modlema Garments went on strike in the first week of April. Across India, since January 2026, over 28 major strikes involving more than one lakh workers have taken place. What we are witnessing is not an isolated unrest, but a growing working-class movement.
Seventy-nine years after India's independence, the situation of workers in India remains the same and is even worsening in current times. On one side, corporates, bureaucrats, MPs, MLAs, and ministers enjoy luxurious and rich lives; on the other, the minimum wages of so-called unskilled workers, who work in very precarious situations, are 15,220 and 13,690 per month in Haryana and UP respectively.
The minimum wages of so-called unskilled workers in Haryana and the Noida-Ghaziabad region of UP were ₹11,274 and ₹11,313 respectively before April 2026. These increased after massive resistance, but they are still not enough to even survive.
The demands raised by workers are basic and long overdue:
• Wages of at least 20,000 to 25,000 per month.
• An 8-hour workday and payment for overtime.
• PF and ESI benefits for all workers.
• Equal rights for contract laborers.
• Clearance of pending dues and regularity of payment.
With such low income, life is incredibly hard for all workers. People are forced to work 12 hours a day, but they only get paid for 8 hours. This means they are giving away four hours of hard work for free every single day, and the generated surplus is looted by the factory owners. The money they earn is very low, usually between ₹10,000 and 12,000 a month. For contract workers, it is even worse, with some making only 16,000. While pay has stayed almost the same for ten years, sometimes going up by only 29 a year, the cost of everything else has exploded. Rent, food, travel, and gas (LPG) are all much more expensive now. Because of this, many workers are struggling just to survive.
State Violence and Criminalization of Workers' Struggles
Instead of engaging with workers' demands, the state has chosen repression. In Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, police have responded with lathi charges, tear gas, and mass detentions. Women workers have also faced assault during these crackdowns. In Noida alone, more than 300 workers have been detained, with many families left without any information about their whereabouts. In Manesar, over 55 workers have been sent to judicial custody, while across regions, workers and activists are being slapped with serious charges like attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy. At the same time, the UP CM, Ajay Singh Bisht, has tried to brand these protests as a "conspiracy to revive Naxalism" with "possible Pakistan links." Yet, despite this narrative, the government has been forced to announce a 21% increase in minimum wages in the Greater Noida region and 35% in Haryana, at least on paper. The increase remains far too little compared to the rising cost of living and workers' needs.
*4 Labour Codes: Legalizing Exploitation*
The worsening condition of workers is closely linked to the new four labour codes, which:
• Open the door for 12-hour workdays.
• Make union formation difficult by requiring 51% worker approval.
• Restrict the right to strike through mandatory prior notice.
• Allow easier dismissal of workers without government approval.
These changes strengthen employers and weaken workers, making exploitation more systematic and legally protected.
India is projected globally as a hub for investment because of its cheap labour. This cheapness is not natural; it is created. A growing "reserve army of labour" made up of unemployed, displaced, and marginalized people is pushed into factories and gig work under desperate conditions. At the same time, small livelihoods are destroyed through displacement, rising costs, and state actions, forcing more people into wage labour. This ensures that workers remain replaceable, insecure, and under constant pressure to accept poor conditions.
PSA extends solidarity to Noida, Manesar, Gurugram, and across India workers' resistance against corporate loot. We salute the North India factory workers' protest against exploitation from the state-corporate nexus. We demand that the state and central governments intervene in the matter immediately with the acceptance of all demands raised by workers. We demand the release of all arrested workers immediately, the withdrawal of fake FIRs, and an end to police repression over the workers. We urge students, farmers, laborers, activists, journalists, and all progressive people of the country to stand in solidarity with the resisting workers.
- PSA
