As the indefinite strike by workers at Samsung’s Sriperumbudur plant entered its second month, labour law and industrial disputes expert and retired High Court judge K Chandru questioned why the Tamil Nadu government’s Labour Department was dragging its feet over the matter, stating that the responsibility of registering the union was not on Samsung.
The registration of Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU) is the main demand of hundreds of Samsung workers who have been protesting since September 9. They submitted the paperwork online with the state Labour Department on July 25. According to the law, the union must be registered within 45 days of sending the application to the Department. But the workers received no word from the government for much longer than the stipulated time, triggering the protests.
he company opposes the move due to the use of “Samsung” in the union's name and political backing from the CPI(M)-linked Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).
In an interview to TNM’s Shabbir Ahmed, Justice Chandru remarked that foreign companies establishing their plants in India usually demand that the government should not allow any unions.
“It is the fundamental right of workers to form an association as per the Constitution. This includes trade unions, which was accepted by the Supreme Court in 1965. Even though there is no compulsory recognition, there is no discretion vest with the labour court to refuse the registration of a union. Under the Trade Unions Act, 1926, the workers must represent 10% of the total workforce. The labour commissioner can even recommend for the recognition of the union. It is the first time in Tamil Nadu that the department is dragging its feet on three grounds — not being able to handle the issue, not being able to reveal the secret understanding of this investment, and using the police to weaken the bargaining power of protesters,” he said.
He further said that when it comes to labour rights and issues, there is not much difference between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the national level and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) at the state level. “The governments do not have well laid out policies to deal with labour issues. The only way to secure the conditions of workers is to recognise collective bargaining. While former chief minister CN Annadurai attempted to solve the problems and maintained absolute neutrality, we now have stereotyped answers. Ministers say that they are doing everything but still the union has not been recognised,” he said. He added that the workers do not go to court as they believe that justice will be given to them.
In the evening of October 10, Tamil Nadu police detained around 300 workers despite the Madras High Court permitting the employees to carry out a peaceful protest. CITU filed a contempt petition against the Sriperumbudur police for illegally detaining around 300 workers. A special application was also filed at the Sriperumbudur judicial magistrate to ensure that the workers are released immediately.