Samsung agrees to Rs 9,000 wage hike in written reply to CITU

CHENNAI: Samsung management has finally taken a step backwards and offered an additional wage hike of Rs 9,000 to the agitating workers at its Sriperumbudur factory.

CITU Kancheepuram district secretary E Muthukumar on Wednesday said this is part of the written response by Samsung to its list of workers' demands in the conciliatory talks held at the Assistant Labour Commissioner's office at Irungattukottai. He further termed the written response and holding talks with the CITU representatives a victory for the union.

“The Samsung management, which was adamant that it would not hold talks with the union formed by the CITU, has not only held talks but also submitted its written response to its demands,” he said.

Muthukumar said Samsung has given a written response to all 20 demands put forward by the CITU. “The management, which had already announced a salary hike of Rs 5,000 during the protest as the first step, has announced in its written response that it will provide a salary increase of Rs 9,000 for three years. They have agreed to a three-year agreement. But they had rejected other demands citing frivolous reasons,” he said, adding they have not accepted their response and would hold further negotiations in the next round of the conciliation meeting. He noted that they had sought a hike of Rs 36,000 and a reduction of working hours to seven from the existing eight hours.

The CITU leader said the management has not responded to its complaint filed with the Labour Department over the vindictive actions taken against the workers affiliated with the unions in violation of the tripartite agreement. “We will hold a gate meeting at the Samsung factory on January 10 in which CITU state president A Soundararajan will participate,” he said.