After 37 days of strike, protesting Samsung workers in Tamil Nadu to resume work from October 17

CITU state president Soundararajan said they have not watered down on any demand including recognition of the Samsung India Workers Union, while indicating that would go by the order of the Madras High Court, which is seized of the matter.

Chennai: Employees of Samsung India plant near here, who were on a strike for 37 days demanding recognition of their union and fair pay, will resume work from Thursday.

“It was unanimously decided at the meeting of our council today that the striking workers will start work from October 17,” A Soundararajan, CITU state president, told reporters in Kanchipuram on Wednesday. The announcement came a day after the Tamil Nadu government declared that the strike had been called off following marathon talks with employees and management of Samsung India.

Soundararajan said the CITU has not watered down on any of its demand including recognition of the Samsung India Workers Union, while indicating that would go by the order of the Madras High Court, which is seized of the matter.

“We have not compromised on our demands. We insisted that Samsung India should respond to our demands in writing to authorities concerned. We decided to call off the strike since this demand was fulfilled. We will stand by our workers,” Soundararajan said.

Over 1,000 workers of the Samsung India plant in Sunguvarchatiram began a protest on September 9 demanding recognition of the newly formed Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU) and fair pay to them. However, the South Korean electronics major was not willing to engage with the workers and was forced to talk to them indirectly through the Tamil Nadu government.

Though Samsung India announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with employees in the presence of three senior ministers, CITU rejected the claims and continued with its protest. After the fiasco, the government deputed senior minister E V Velu to join the team following which fresh negotiations with both sides began.

While announcing the end of the strike on Tuesday, the Labour Department said Samsung has given an assurance that workers “will not be victimised” for participating in the strike.

“After returning to work, the workers should cooperate with the management fully and not do any such acts prejudicial to the interest of the management. The management will file a written reply to the charter of demands filed by the workers before the conciliation officer,” the statement added.

The strike had put the DMK government in a spot after the protest began gaining traction and support from the ruling party's allies like the CPI (M), CPI, and VCK. Things came to a naught after police cracked down on the striking employees by dismantling the protest shed, following which the state government multiplied its efforts to resolve the issue.

The development comes at a time the Tamil Nadu government is bullish on attracting investments in several sectors, especially electronics. Global technology giant Cisco launched production from the Flex factory last week, while Jabil is setting up a plant in Tiruchirapalli. Moreover, Tamil Nadu is home to key Apple Inc suppliers like Foxconn, Pegatron, and Tata Electronics.

Samsung India welcomes decision

In a statement, Samsung India welcomed the CITU’s decision to call off the “illegal strike” and its workers who have decided to return to work “unconditionally.” 

“We will not take action against workers who merely participated in the illegal strike. We are committed to work closely with our workers to make the Chennai factory a great place to work,” a Samsung India spokesperson said.