Stir in coalition as DMK allies back striking Samsung workers

CHENNAI: A day after the State government brokered an agreement between Samsung India executives and a section of its workers, the leaders of the ruling DMK’s allies, including Congress, CPM, CPI, MDMK and VCK, will visit the protesting workers on Wednesday to extend their solidarity to the month-long strike by CITU-affiliated Samsung Electronics workers.

The decision risks opening yet another fissure between the DMK and its INDIA bloc allies, after the discomfort over the developments ahead of VCK’s prohibition conference on October 2 and the demand for share in power.

TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai, CPM State secretary K Balakrishnan, CPI State secretary R Mutharasan, VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan, Thamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi founder T Velmurugan and MDMK leader Avadi R Anthridoss will visit the striking Samsung workers on Wednesday.

“The leaders are visiting the protesting workers stressing the need to reach an amicable solution,” CITU Kancheepuram district secretary and Samsung India Workers’ Union president E Muthukumar said.

Also Read: Samsung workers’ strike: What the company has offered to end protest

He added that the CITU has called for a one-day token strike on October 21 by workers of all industrial units in Sriperumbudur and Chengalpattu in solidarity with the Samsung workers.

Addressing the protesting workers at Sriperumbudur, CITU Tamil Nadu unit president A Soundararajan said his union did not stop anyone from going to work but they were voluntarily taking part in the strike. “We did not go to the company gate to stop the workers. But not even a fly or a crow passed by the gate. The three ministers [who negotiated] should be hanging their heads in shame knowing that workers did not turn up for work,” he said.

Soundararajan asked if the workers’ committee, which has the backing of the company management, had the majority to decide on behalf of all workers. “The majority of workers are here. A government not respecting the majority cannot be a fair one,” he said, cautioning the ruling DMK that the message that the government betrayed the workers has spread, which would impact them in the ensuing elections.

Meanwhile, the State government, which negotiated the terms of the memorandum of agreement, appealed to the workers of the Samsung plant in Sunguvarchatiram near Sriperumbudur to call off their strike immediately and rejoin work in the “interest of the State and other workers of the factory”.

The MoA was signed even though the meeting where the ministerial delegation led by MSME Minister TM Anbarasan, Labour Minister CV Ganesan and Industries Minister TRB Rajaa held talks with CITU leaders at the Secretariat ended without reaching any agreement.