Strike By More Than 1,000 Samsung Workers Enters A Third Week In India

NEW DELHI — A strike by more than 1,000 workers at a Samsung India Electronics facility has entered its third week, and management is at an impasse over their demands for employee union registration and higher compensation, a workers union representative said on Wednesday.

The employees’ strike in the plant near Chennai, the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, began on September 9 with a key demand for a 25-30% pay increase in the average monthly salary of 30,000-35,000 rupees ($425), according to K.C. Gopi Kumar, spokesman for the Samsung India Electronics workers union.

Strike By More Than 1,000 Samsung Workers Enters A Third Week In India

“Our foremost demand is recognition of the union and its rights by the management,” Kumar told Reuters.

A Samsung spokesman stated that management was willing to consider the workers’ demands.

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, stated that the corporation preferred to deal directly with staff representatives rather than through the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, or CITU.

The CITU is an Indian labor union affiliated with the Communist Party.

Samsung stated that it paid 1.8 times more in India than the average salary of identical workers hired by other regional corporations.

According to the workers’ union, production at the Sriperumbudur complex in southern India, which manufactures televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines, has been affected by up to 70%.

Strike By More Than 1,000 Samsung Workers Enters A Third Week In India

However, the Samsung official stated that following an initial disruption of 50% output, the facility was operating at near-average capacity, with non-striking workers, apprentices, and freshly hired employees on the job.

The electronics company urged the striking workers to return to their jobs.

In a contact with the employees, Samsung told them that it would not take action against those who wanted to return to work, but warned them that if they continued to protest, they would be fired, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

SOURCE | AP