On 6 March, near Badal Village, Punjab, police attacked and injured scores of demonstrating members of the Contract Multipurpose Health Workers Union. Police attacked the demonstrators when the union members attempted to march towards the Punjab Chief Minister’s native village to lodge a protest and demand regularisation of their jobs. Six injured workers were admitted to hospitals in Badal and Lambi Villages, while 30 others, including 25 women, were detained by the police.
On 7 April, Police Inspector T. Trinadha Rao repeatedly attacked female government Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers with canes when they were demonstrating outside District Medical & Health Officer’s office in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh. District General Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Voluntary Workers Union (APVWU) B. Sudha Rani said that Rao’s assaults included an attack on a woman who was five-months pregnant. Two women, Allu Satyavathi and Garbhapu Bhanu Kumari, were seriously injured and admitted to the district headquarters hospital for treatment. Twenty-four ASHA workers and a few Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leaders were arrested.
A group of workers who went on strike in April at a brick kiln factory in Kheda District, Gujarat, were reportedly warned that the owners would “kill them and rape their women” for refusing to work and complaining about wages to the authorities. After the warning, about 40 workers fled the factory.
Hired thugs attack garment workers attending May Day rally. On May 3, armed thugs hired by owners of the Ankur Udyog (AU) garment factory in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, physically attacked and fired gunshots at hundreds of company employees after they attended a May Day rally in Delhi. Over 20 employees were injured and 18 were hospitalised, including one worker who has a bullet wound in his back. Police made no arrest in connection with the incident.
On 3 June, VN Dyers Yarn and Textile Mills (VN) in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, agreed to reopen their plants and reinstate 18 dismissed workers in to end a four-day sit-in strike. About 500 VN Dyers workers were locked out after walking off the job on 10 April in a dispute over wages. On 20 May, 25 VN workers were severely injured and 73 arrested when police attempted to stop them meeting with the District Magistrate over their dispute. The workers occupied the yarn mill on 30 May when the VN owners announced that they would restart it with new employees.
On 21 October, police cane charged around 250 nurses of from the Asian Heart Institute (AHI), Mumbai, Maharashtra, who were protesting over the suicide of a fellow nurse on 18 October. Three nurses were injured in the attack. The nurses were also protesting AHI’s bonded labour policy of retaining the nurses’ licenses for a period of two years. If the nurse wants to obtain his/her licenses before the 2 year period expires, a payment of IRS 50,000 (USD1,000.00) must be made to AHI. On 12 November, the Indian Professional Nurses Association (IPNA) brought the plight of the nurses at the AHI to India’s Supreme Court. The IPNA noted that nurses at AHI and at other facilities throughout India are not paid minimum wage but are compelled to sign vouchers that say that they are. In addition, the IPNA noted that nurses were compelled to execute service bonds at the time of their joining service and most of the private hospitals were withholding their original licenses.
On 4 November, two workers and a reporter were hospitalised after police fired teargas and cane-charged workers picketing at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory (DRL) in Pydibhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh. DRL workers are represented by Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). DRL is India’s second-largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, employing 13,500 workers with markets in India, Europe and the US.
On 26 November, nine workers were detained and several injured when police used tear gas and batons against striking workers at the state-owned Wonder Cement factory in Chittorgarh, Rajastan. The strike was sparked after factory management only paid IRS100,000 (USD2,200) compensation to the family a worker who was killed in a work related accident.
On 6 December, police baton charged about 190 nurses represented by the United Nurses Organisation (UNO) who went on strike at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) in Kochi, Kerala. Three nurses were injured in the attack. The nurses went on strike after AIMS dismissed the UNO President and transferred the UNO General Secretary to another facility. ANO was formed on 2 December. The strike ended on 8 December when AIMS agreed to rescind the actions against the UNO leaders and enter into negotiations with the union.