Chennai

Hundreds of workers at the Samsung India factory at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai city in Southern India, have been protesting for the second day, alleging that their management has refused to recognize their Left-affiliated Workers Union.

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The Samsung India facility at the industrial hub of Sriperumbudur is known to assemble televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, and air conditioners, with thousands of units being rolled out every day. Owing to the ongoing protest, production is said to have been impacted.

According to Muthukumar, the Kanchipuram District Secretary of the CITU, a Left-affiliated Trade Union, the protests began on Monday, 9th September, after the Samsung India management allegedly failed to recognize the Left-affiliated Samsung India Workers Union. 

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"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," said a Samsung India spokesperson. 

"A significant portion of the workers at the Samsung facility are affiliated to our Trade Union. Despite that, the management has not recognized it. Samsung management has been employing strong-arm tactics, and threats of termination to those affiliated to the Union. They have even propped up a rival Union to create factionalism among workers," Muthukumar shared his allegations to WION. 

Muthukumar, who is a Left-affiliated Trade Union leader representing the Samsung workers, but is not a Samsung employee, alleged that the Samsung management had been forcing Union-linked workers from one production line to another unrelated production line. "When a worker is trained only to assemble ACs, and he is made to assemble Washing machines, there will naturally be errors in his work and it would ruin the product. This is a convenient opportunity for the management to lay off the Unionizing workers," Muthukumar claimed. 

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The protests at a leading consumer electronics assembly facility are occurring at a time when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and his industries team are in the US to attract investments to the state.

Over the last ten days, the chief minister has been announcing that MoUs worth millions of dollars have been signed with prospective investors from across sectors, including electronics and electronics component manufacturing. The DMK-led Tamil Nadu Government has maintained that it is working towards tripling its state economy to $1 trillion by 2023.