CHENNAI: Around 100 Samsung Electronics employees were detained on Monday by police as they planned a march to the district collector’s office in Kancheepuram, near Chennai. Several workers in the company’s factory at Sunguvarchatram in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu have been on strike for about a week.
They earlier announced a march to the collector’s office on Monday.Police detained around employees, including senior labour representatives, as they did not have permission for the march. A section of employees continued their demonstration outside the company’s facility on Monday.
Workers at the Samsung electronics plant at Sunguvarchatram making washing machines, ACs and other consumer electronic goods are on a strike seeking recognition of the employees’ union, better wages and better working hours. The plant employs roughly about 1800 workers.
Unrecognised CITU-affiliated Samsung India Workers Union has been demanding that the management hold talks with them for wage revision and other demands of the workers.
Repeated conciliatory talks between the company and union representatives and talks by Tamil Nadu labour minister C V Ganeshan failed to reach final agreement on the issue.
TOI previously reported that the company’s production was severely hit with it scrambling to run operations with temporary workers, workers from vendor units and former employees. Samsung management raised concerns on business getting affected, especially during the festival seasons which will witness an uptick in demand, TOI reported on Sept 11.
According to a report, the facility contributes around 30% of Samsung’s annual $12 billion revenue in India.
Samsung in a statement last Monday said, “At Samsung India, the welfare of our employees is our top priority. We actively engage with our workers to address any grievances they may have and comply with all laws and regulations. We will also ensure that there is no disruption to our consumers.”