India tea workers burn boss to death.
bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20849295
bbc.co.ukPosted Dec 27, 2012, 4:03 PM UTC
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bbc.co.ukWell, that's... Horrible.
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I agree. This story is really the total opposite of awesome in every way. I don't like it one bit.
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A bit more info from a worker's rights POV
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They said Mr Bhattacharyya had also faced protests at another tea estate that he owned two years ago.
In that dispute, angry workers set fire to his tea factory near the state capital, Guwahati, after he had allegedly fired on a crowd that had gathered near his house to protest against a reported attack on a local woman.
I'm surprised he didn't leave the industry after that. It's a shame that his wife was also caught in the inferno, and that it apparently had to do with the firing of some people (yes, there's a pun there, don't point it out).
I wish it told us what companies bought assam tea from there, so we can purchase this great tea without guilt.
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were you trying to ignite a pun thread?
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fired on a crowd
I'm pretty sure they're saying he shot at them.
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aww SHOOT, i misread a bit.
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Now, that's a strike.
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A mob doesn't burn your house and factory down on two separate occasions in two separate provinces unless you're a real robber baron; there was even the hint of him being an accused rapist near the end. We can hope that ownership of the estate will pass to the workers, but that is highly unlikely.
Rumors spread quickly, and newspapers and the mob aren't reliable sources. The court of public opinion is vicious, and it's not concerned with facts. I hope that you would agree that you would agree that the extrajudicial killing of anyone by burning alive is a bad thing.
Plus, I'm all for employee-owned enterprises where it's advantageous, but why would you hope that the estate would pass to a group of people that includes guys who felt it was necessary to burn their boss to death?
India is a place that is full of corruption. It is more likely than not that this boss was a bad person, especially considering how he managed to make his workers so angry twice. I'm for employee owned enterprises 100% of the time, anything less is exploitation by definition, and these people who have taken matters into their own hands were likely at the receiving end of capitalism's nastiest. I don't agree with them burning these two people alive, but I don't think they did it without reason.
I don't think we did it without reason. It's just that for this, I don't think there could possibly by a good reason. If we agree that it wasn't justice, I think we're in agreement.
Employee-owned enterprises with voting shares would be dangerous in certain industries. I would think that without voting shares and with firm ownership rights should work everywhere.