Indian union plots mass protest against 'unfair' treatment of pharma sales reps
A strike by Sun Pharma employees this week is
just one symptom of a campaign by a prominent trade union to seek more
equitable working conditions for pharma sales representatives.
The Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives'
Associations of India (FMRAI) claims many reps working in India do
so with contracts that contravene their working rights--as well as Indian
employment law. It is trying to organize a mass demonstration on the streets of
the capital, New Delhi, on November 21, and is threatening an all-out
national strike if its demands are not met.
This week, around 500 Sun Pharma sales reps
engaged in a one-day strike to protest what they call unfair treatment of
workers who joined the company from Ranbaxy Laboratories, including unpaid
wages and expenses, and demotions to a lower working grade. Sun Pharma acquired
Ranbaxy in a $3.5 billion deal that closed in March 2015 and created India's
largest pharma group.
The dissatisfaction with sales rep working
conditions goes well beyond the Sun Pharma protest however, and comes after
similar actions by other companies. On August 4, some 2,000 reps from Alembic
Pharmaceuticals Ltd also went on strike to protest against "arbitrary"
working conditions, forced transfers and anti-union action, says the FMRAI.
FMRAI supported the Sun reps' sit-out, after
it filed a lawsuit in June seeking payment of unpaid monies and challenging
demotion of sales staff, according to a Livemint report. Other Indian media
reports suggest that around 24% of the combined Sun-Ranbaxy workforce has left
the company since the takeover--and that the bulk of those departing are former
Ranbaxy employees.
FMRAI alleges that unfair labor practices are
rife in the Indian pharma market. Sales reps fear losing their jobs if they
become ill--or simply at the whim of their managers.
Reps also risk "cruel and unjust punishment" if sales targets--which it says
are often unrealistic--are missed. Managers dock wages or reject expense claims
to retaliate, the union asserts, while the use of electronic reporting systems
means reps can effectively be locked out of their work and dismissed "at the touch of a button."
The pressure put on reps hit the front pages
in India after the July suicide of Ashish Awasthi, an Abbott
Laboratories employee who left a note blaming his actions squarely on the
pressure he faced over his sales targets.
The union wants India's government to set
statutory working rules for sales employees and to strictly enforce the
existing Sales Promotion Employees (SPE) Act. It's also calling for stiffer
penalties--including the threat of jail--for employers found to have victimized
staff.
"Field
workers are determined to halt this outrage in the industries and refuse to
allow the atrocities on the sales promotion employees to be passed up as such,"
it said in a statement.
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