After weeks of strikes and negotiations, Samsung India has signed a settlement agreement with some of its employees. However, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has announced that the strike would continue because their key demand was not accepted – the recognition of newly formed Samsung India Workers’ Union (SIWU). Hundreds of employees at Samsung India plant in Sriperumbudur started an indefinite strike, in the first week of September, demanding equal pay and better working hours.
“Around 200 of the 1,800 workers, who did not attend the strike were selected and taken to the secretariat and asked to sit in front of three ministers. Management has dictated the terms and they are calling it the MoU. The MoU has nothing to do with the strikers. The strike will continue,” Soundararajan, CITU state president and honorary president of the Samsung India workers Union (SIWU) told TNM.
The MoU states that Samsung India will ‘prioritise’ implementation of certain measures to improve the working environment for the welfare of its employees. One of the main measures is that the company will provide an interim special incentive called ‘Productivity Stabilization Incentive’ of Rs 5,000 per month from October 2024 up to March 2025, which will be considered with the annual increment in wages for the financial year 2025-26.
The company has also agreed that in the event of the death of an employee while in service, they will provide an additional immediate assistance of Rs 1 lakh to the family.
However, Soundararajan said that allocating Rs 5,000 was a “strategy”. “If anybody wants this amount, they can come and sign the MoU. This is illegal as per the Industrial Disputes Act. Wage hike is not the important criteria to withdraw the strike.”
He also further added, “You have to discuss wages and other working conditions with the union. For that you have to accept the union, because it is the majority union. If they say that we accept the union and are ready to discuss with them, immediately we will withdraw the strike. Demand is the right to form associations. Right to collective bargaining. Right to get the union registered. These are the main demands. We are not in a hurry to increase the wage. They are making it as if it's a strike for wages. Workers are not babies. You can't cheat them."
The CITU’s original charter of demands included a 7-hour working day and a 5-day work week; and increased paternity leave from 3 days to 7 days. They also demanded Rs 1 crore to be given to the family of a worker, if they pass away during work and Rs 25 lakhs, if they work outside of work.
The Samsung India Thozhilalar Sangam, affiliated with the CPI(M)’s Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), also moved the Madras High Court on September 30. The union was reportedly not granted registration even 85 days after its application was submitted. The union, in its petition, had said that registration should have been granted 45 days from the date of application (June 25 in this case), as per the labour laws in the state. The Madras High Court has now given the state government time until mid October to decide on the matter.
The Sriperumbudur plant, which employs around 1,800 to 2,000 workers, is one of two key factories for Samsung in India, contributing significantly to its $12 billion annual revenue in the country. The Sriperumbudur factory was set up in 2007 and, along with the larger Noida plant in Uttar Pradesh, plays a key role in Samsung's operations in India, a critical growth market for the company. The strike in India comes in the wake of a similar strike by Samsung's largest union in South Korea over wage and bonus negotiations. Despite the disruptions, Samsung has employed contract staff to mitigate production delays.