Over 100 striking Samsung workers detained by Indian police for planning march
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Workers at a Samsung Electronics plant want higher wages and have boycotted work for seven days.
PHOTO: REUTERS
CHENNAI – The police on Sept 16 detained 104 workers protesting against low wages at a Samsung Electronics plant in southern India as they were planning a protest march without permission, with the dispute disrupting output at the key factory for the past week.
The Samsung protests have cast a shadow on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan of courting foreign investors to “Make in India”
Lured by cheap labour, foreign companies are increasingly using India for manufacturing to diversify their supply chain beyond China.
On Sept 16, the workers planned to start a protest march, but were detained as no permission was given since there are schools, colleges and hospitals in that area, senior police officer of Kancheepuram district K. Shanmugam said.
“It is the main area, which would become totally paralysed and (the protest would) disturb public peace,” he said. “We have detained them in wedding halls, as all of them can’t be in stations.”
Samsung workers have since last week been protesting at a makeshift tent near the plant, demanding higher wages, recognition for a union backed by labour group Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu) and better working hours.
Samsung is not keen to recognise any union backed by an outside labour group.
Citu Tamil Nadu deputy general-secretary S. Kannan condemned the police action.
“This is an archaic move by the state government,” he said.
Protesters not standing down
Despite the police action, 12 union groups, including one affiliated with the ruling party of Tamil Nadu, said in a public notice dated Sept 11 that they would stage a protest in support of the striking workers in Chennai on Sept 18, a move that could intensify the tensions between the company and the workers.
“We are going ahead with the (Sept 18) protest... No changes to the plan,” said Mr A. Jenitan, a deputy district secretary for Citu.
The protests add to Samsung’s challenges in India, a key growth market.
The South Korean company is planning job cuts of up to 30 per cent
Workers stage a protest to demand higher wages and recognition of their union, at Samsung India’s plant in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai on Sept 11.
PHOTO: AFP
Samsung did not respond to a request for comment on Sept 16, but on Sept 13 said it had initiated discussions with workers at the Chennai plant “to resolve all issues at the earliest”.
Video footage from Reuters partner ANI showed dozens of Samsung workers wearing the company uniform of blue shirts being transported in a bus to a hall.
The Samsung plant employs about 1,800 workers and more than 1,000 of them have been on strike.
The factory makes appliances such as refrigerators, TVs and washing machines. Another Samsung plant that makes smartphones in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has had no unrest.
The police also detained one of Citu’s senior leaders, Mr E. Muthukumar, who was leading the Samsung protests at the factory near Chennai.
Mr Shanmugam, the police official, said there was no timeline as to how long the workers would be detained. REUTERS
