Chennai:

Over a month-long indefinite strike by the employees of Samsung India Electronics Ltd at its plant near here was called off on Tuesday and the workers have decided to resume work, the Tamil Nadu government said.

The state government in a statement said the strike at the factory of the Korean electronics giant in Sriperumbudur has come to an end and all the workers would get back to work.

Pressing for various demands, about 1,100 workers of the total 1,750 employees of Samsung India have been on strike since September 9, which includes wage revision, better work conditions, and registration of the newly formed Samsung India Workers Union backed by CITU by the labour department.

The decision to call off the strike was taken at the conciliatory meeting which was held at the office of the Department of Labour Welfare here on Tuesday in which representatives from the Samsung India and the striking workers took part.

“All the striking workers will call off the agitation and return to work immediately. On returning to work the management will not victimise the workers for having participated in the protest,” an official release said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Chennai:

Around 250 striking Samsung electronics workers were arrested by the Kancheepuram police today for allegedly occupying private land without permission and holding protests without permission.

The workers have been on strike for a month, demanding recognition of their union, pay revision, eight-hour work schedule and other benefits.

Last week, Samsung agreed to many of the demands, including a Rs five thousand increment, but refused to recognise the union. It also announced AC buses to transport all workers, Rs one lakh emergency relief to families in the event of the death of a worker and agreed to discuss other demands.

This led to a standoff between the workers and the management. The Tamil Nadu Finance Minister, Thangam Thennarasu, today appealed to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) to withdraw the protest.

The workers claim they have permission from the landowner to gather and protest, but authorities removed the canopy they had set up.

The workers have approached the Madras High Court over the arrest and the court would hear the case later today.

Last night, seven Samsung workers were arrested and later released on bail for allegedly assaulting a police officer after a road accident unrelated to the protests. However, the workers on strike allege that the arrested workers have yet to return after bail.

Today, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu appealed to the CITU to withdraw the protest and assured that the state labour department will comply with the court order in the case over recognising the Samsung workers’ union. Claiming that the labour department could not register the union only because of objection by Samsung Electronics he assured the state would abide by the court order.

The arrest comes on a day a few leaders of the alliance parties of the ruling DMK, including the left and VCK, had scheduled to visit protesters.

It’s not clear yet if police would release the striking workers or remand them to judicial custody.

Even though Samsung production was hit hard earlier, the company soon managed to keep the impact minimal by roping in contract workers and its logistics team. Earlier Samsung’s legal counsel had said the company isn’t bound to recognise an unregistered workers’ union and that it would hold talks only with a committee of its workers.

Though the strike has come as an embarrassment for the ruling DMK which is on an overdrive to draw investments and generate jobs, government sources say they are working on a solution that would protect workers’ welfare and jobs for youth.

Chennai:

The strike of Samsung India workers at the company Electronics Plants in Tamil Nadu entered its 19th day today with the company ensuring them that it would consider their demands, including revision of wages, if they end the protest and return to work. However, with the workers rallying around Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the company has made it clear that it will not recognise workers’ union.

About 1,000 of the total 1,750 employee are on strike in Kancheepuram district pressing for various demands including better pay packages and working conditions.

“In Tamil Nadu, no law mandates recognition of the Union. It is the company’s discretion. The Union is not registered, so the question doesn’t arise,” Anand Gopalan, the company’s legal counsel told NDTV.

As far the revision of wages are considered, Samsung claims that it already pays its workers well- above the minimum wages- prescribed by the state government. i.e. 1.8 times the salary of workers with other companies in the neighbourhood.

“Let them end the strike and come. We are willing to consider the pay revision demand. They want revision of pay as a pre condition to end strike”, Mr Gopalan said.

He added “We are fully compliant. Not a single action has been taken against the company. We are non vindictive “.

“The management has already indicated that all the issues can be resolved by discussions and has made various harmonious attempts to resolve differences and for your report to duty,” Samsung has said in a statement.

Other Demands Of Workers

Other key demands of workers include no mandatory overtime work on a regular basis and a eight-hour shift ,besides equal pay for equal work. Denying the allegations of overtime, the electronics major says this can’t be the ground for a strike and there are mechanisms to address these issues.

The strike ahead of the festive season, sources say, had initially hit the production of Samsung appliances by 50 percent. But the company had quickly roped in staff from the logistics wing besides contractual workers which kept the impact minimal, sources said.

Last week, the company also issued a show cause notice to protesting workers. It asked its workers-those who were forced to participate in the strike and prevented from returning to work-to call on the helpline number- but that didn’t have a major impact.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has also intervened. On Thursday, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, urging swift resolution of the workers’ strike. The minister urged the state government to intervene for an early and amicable resolution for maintaining positive manufacturing sector ecosystem, reported news agency PTI.

“We are holding talks with the unions and the management. We are hopeful of resolving this soon,” Tamil Nadu Labour Minister C V Ganesan had told NDTV.

The strike has come as an embarrassment for the ruling DMK that is on an overdrive to draw investments to project Tamil Nadu as a manufacturing hub. Recently, M K Stalin returned from the US drawing investment commitments for Rs 7000 crore.