Hundreds of workers at Samsung India’s manufacturing plant in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, assembled outside the facility on Monday to demand the recognition of their newly-formed union, better wages and improved working conditions.
“We had a ‘gate meeting’ outside the plant seeking recognition of the workers’ union,” E Muthukumar, president, Samsung India Workers’ Union, told FE.
According to Muthukumar, around 800 employees gathered outside the South Korean electronics giant’s factory to draw the management’s attention to their issues. “We have also submitted a list of other demands, including a wage increase and improved shift hours,” Muthukumar said, adding that the management’s response so far was not encouraging.
An email sent to Samsung India remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
The union’s president added that currently nobody can question the logic behind Samsung’s annual salary revision criteria. “For instance, the company offers two different salaries to two different people with the same qualifications and experience. These are some of the issues,” he said.
Samsung is estimated to have over 2,000 employees, including 1,600 permanent workers, at the Tamil Nadu plant.
These developments come at a time when the South Korean giant is facing a labour protest in its home country, with workers on a three-day strike for better pay beginning Monday, called by the National Samsung Electronics Union, which has roughly 30,000 members — almost a quarter of the firm’s workforce.
Set up in 2007, the manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur is one of two factories that Samsung operates in India. The other plant is in Noida. The Tamil Nadu plant manufactures consumer products, including televisions, washing machines and air conditioners.
In March 2022, Samsung signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government to invest `1,588 crore to set up a new compressor manufacturing plant in Sriperumbudur. The company had then said the new facility would have the capacity to produce 8 million compressor units a year, which would then be used in refrigerators manufactured in India and also for exports.
The workers’ demand for a union come weeks after Apple supplier Foxconn, located in the same vicinity, came under fire for alleged discrimination against married women.
Earlier this year, workers at another Apple supplier, Flex, in Tamil Nadu plant, staged a one-day strike demanding higher wages for the next three years and the recognition of a union.
