Samsung workers in TN continue strike as concilation talks fail

CHENNAI: Hundreds of Samsung Electronics plant workers at Sunguvarchatiram continued their indefinite strike for the second day on Tuesday seeking recognition for the CITU-affiliated Samsung India Workers’ Union (SIWU) and wage hike even as the conciliation talk called by the Deputy Commissioner of Labour (DCL) at Irungattukottai failed.

SIWU president E Muthukumar said their strike would continue if the management refused to meet their demands. The workers continued to sit outside the factory even as the district administration and police attempted to remove them.

A spokesperson for Samsung said on September 9 that 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."

CITU state president A Soundararajan said that the conciliation talks failed as the Samsung management refused to hold talks with the union.

“We offered to drop the demand for a wage hike immediately but asked them to cease the effort to form a competing “workers’ committee” and threatening the workers to join it. With the participation of 85 per cent of the workforce in the strike, we have proved that our union has a majority. We also demanded that there should not be any victimisation of the workers and continued talks with the union. But the management refused to agree,” he said, adding that the DCL has even offered to give “consent advice” to both the management and the union for that also they rejected it.

“The next round of the conciliation talks will be held on September 13,” he noted.