The 37-day long protests by the employees of the Samsung India plant at Sriperumbudur near Chennai has been called off after Tamil Nadu government brokered peace. The CITU which spearheaded the protests demanding recognition of their union and pay hike called off the protest on Tuesday. The CITU said that the talks with the government were held in a “positive” and “conducive” manner.
“We will formally announce its decision after consultations with workers,” A. Soundararajan, head of CITU, told the media after the talks.
On October 8, a video of policemen standing at the doorstep of the residence of an electronics major employee went viral on social media. “There are three children and a heart patient. What will they do if you arrest him at 11 pm in the night, without stating any reason?,” asked the friend of the employee in the video.
Along with him at least seven others were also arrested by the police. The next day morning, the makeshift tent at Echoor, near Sriperumbudur set up by the workers to protest against the electronic major was dismantled by the Tamil Nadu police. About 600 workers who were on a sit in strike at the protest site were detained by the police and moved to a near by marriage hall.
At Sriperumbudur, an hour drive from Chennai, known as the electronics hub of Tamil Nadu, at least 1000 out of the 1800 workers at the South Korean electronics major Samsung’s factory were in strike.
The strike which began on September 8, by a handful of workers from the factory had entered the second month, with no immediate solution even after the tripartite talks between the Samsung factory workers and the state government. Their demands include higher wages, an eight-hour work day and better working conditions. The main demand is recognition of their recently formed labour union — the Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU). Though the protest began on September 9, the state government did not get involved in it. Only after twenty days, after the chief minister returned from America, the government chose to go for parleys with the employees.
While the state government delegation, headed by three senior ministers including industries minister TRB Rajaa, held talks with the Samsung management and the trade union representatives and employees, the talks did not yield any result. The management agreed for all other demands of the employees, except for registering the union saying that the matter is subjudice. Despite the talks, the protests continued and the issue got worse with the police arresting some of the workers and a section of the ruling DMK’s IT wing trying to defame the protesters.
On the other side, the alliance partners of the DMK including the CPI, CPI(M), VCK and others came in support of the workers. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government as a measure to broker peace, called a meeting on Monday and another on Tuesday, following which the workers have agreed to call off the protest.
An official press statement from the Labour Department said the striking workers would immediately call off their strike and return to work even as it extracted an assurance from Samsung India 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 press statement said.
However, the statement did not mention about the workers' demand to register the SIWU.