Sherna Gandhy

The cooperatives spawned by Tata Motors provide extra income to employees and their families. In return, the company gets a variety of products, from cables for its vehicles to chapatis for its canteen

Saris tucked in and their hair neatly bound up, 20 women are busy in the weekly cleaning of the premises of the Telco Grihini Vividh Karyakari Sahakari Audyogic Sanstha Maryadit (loosely translated as the Telco housewives' multipurpose industrial cooperative society limited), situated in the tree-shaded residential section of the Tata Motors complex in Pune. Ovens, grinders, huge mixing vessels, the floors and walls, are all being vigorously scrubbed amid much chatter and laughter.

There is an infectiously happy atmosphere in this women's cooperative, one of Tata Motors' four grihini udyogs, part of a unique company-employee initiative. This one makes a variety of articles, from stationary items such as office files, diaries, registers to pickles, chutneys, dry masalas, and snacks. The Telco Grihini Shivankala Sahakari Audyogic Santha Maryadit (a tailoring cooperative) makes gloves, tool bags, uniforms, etc.

The Telco Grihini Cable Harness Sahakari Audyogic Sanstha Mariyadit manufactures a variety of cables, switches and instrument panel connectors. The Telco Grihini Electronics Sahakari Audyogic Sanstha Maryadit assembles a variety of flashers, horns, timers and other electronics products. And then there is the Poornima Chapati Society, comprising 90 women who turn out 50,000 chapatis a day for the huge Tata Motors canteen.

The women are paid the government-prescribed minimum wage and they also get all statutory benefits. Most of the products are sold to Tata Motors, though some — like the pickles, condiments and bags — are also sold in the open market. Each cooperative is an independent entity, jointly owned and run by the women dependents of Tata Motors employees. In this way a large pool of womanpower, that might otherwise have been idle, has been harnessed and made productive.

HRD manager Jyoti Gokhale says that the cooperatives allow their women employees to work in their spare time, after household chores are attended to. Each shift is just four hours long and women choose the timing most convenient to them. Operations are spread out over several centres in Pune and the neighbouring industrial city of Pimpri-Chinchwad, so that the women do not have to commute long distances to work.

All the women are shareholders in their respective cooperatives, which are run by elected office bearers. Most of them have some degree of education, and manage to find work suitable to their skills in one or the other cooperative.

At the Vividh Karyakari, Malati Kanitkar explains that an annual general meeting is held each year to elect an 11-member managing committee. The cooperative makes about Rs 80,000 a month. Around Diwali, this can go up to a lakh and more. "We had an essay competition on Women's Day. We have cooking competitions and art exhibitions, we stage plays and hold blood donation drives," says an enthusiastic Ms Kanitkar.

Downstairs, there is an air of quiet concentration as 25 or so women sit in long rows on either side of a table, busy working with soldering irons. This is one of three centres run by the electronics cooperative, which has 292 members. The ladies in blue overalls are the trainees; the rest deftly solder the small components that go into making the 12 and 24-V flashers, multifunction kits, indicators, horns, timers and relays used in Tata vehicles. It looks complicated but Manda Purohit, who is in charge of the centre, says it doesn't take much time for the women to learn the process.

Who would have thought that some of the cables used in Tata vehicles are made by housewives? At the cable harness cooperative women work expertly on strands of colourful wires and thick cables, reading from an industrial drawing and testing the cables to ensure they meet specifications. The 551 members of the society operate from 10 centres. To work here, women have to undergo a two-week training course.

In another small room, piles of uniforms, gloves, canvas tool bags, schoolbags, kitchen aprons and gloves are stacked, and members of the tailoring cooperative are working on their sewing machines. This society has 526 shareholders who work in 11 centres. Members can also collect the material from the centres and work at home. They can get financial aid to buy their own sewing machines. The merchandise is supplied to Tata Motors and is also sold to other buyers.

To think that it all began in 1973 with just six housewives. Now 1,200 confident women across the twin cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad have become self-sufficient, earning members of their families. They themselves manage the affairs of their cooperative societies and are always looking out for new ideas and areas to expand into.

The cooperative initiative began after Tata Motors employees were encouraged to come together as shareholders and form industrial cooperatives which could employ their family members. Initially Tata Motors supplied the raw material and bought the finished products. But, as the cooperatives have grown and prospered, they have become independent units, selling their products in the open market as well. Profits are divided among the shareholders and every outfit is run with professional competence. Computers can be seen everywhere. Running these cooperatives hones the managerial skills of the employees who administer them.

The Chaitanya Society, started in 1981, has 43 shareholders and 250 employees. It recycles scrap wood into packing crates and furniture. In 2003-04, it had a turnover of Rs 461 lakh and made a net profit of Rs 8.38 lakh. The Sahajeevan Society compresses mild steel scraps — generated in the course of production —- into bales of uniform quality mild steel, which are bought back by the Tata Motors foundry. Started in 1981, it now has 60 shareholders, employs 185 people and has a turnover of Rs 215 lakh. Its profit for 2003-04 was Rs 4.02 lakh.

Steel fabrication and furniture are new areas the society has tapped. "All the societies come under various senior Tata Motors managers, who help and guide us, and make suggestions," explains A. B. Dhumal, the society's working chairman. "But we administer the society ourselves and, after the initial years, we have asked for no financial help."

There are four other societies: the Saptashringi Society has 21 members, employs 42 workers and has a turnover of Rs 84 lakh. It handles the battery cable assembly requirements of Tata Motors. The Shreekripa Society, which does the fettling of various castings from the foundry, has 30 members, employs 18 people and has a turnover of Rs 45 lakh. The Comptel Society provides the other cooperatives with computerised services, while the Trimurthy Society delivers housekeeping and conservancy services. The Vanita Consumers' Cooperative, formed by wives of Tata Motors employees, sells a variety of consumer durables at reasonable prices.

The philosophy behind these employee welfare schemes is not just to add to the family kitty of employees, but to boost their sense of self-worth. This is in keeping with the Tata philosophy of helping its employees help themselves. Clearly, the next best thing to being employed at Tata Motors is to be related to someone who is.

Uploaded in March 2005