As daylight broke on Thursday, October 10, the number of policemen near Echoor in Sriperumbudur kept increasing. This is the place where Samsung's workers have been protesting for over a month now — a protest that the Madras High Court on Wednesday said should be allowed to continue. But as a group of around 20 Samsung employees gathered outside a tea shop near the protest site around 9 am, they were quickly whisked away by the police to a marriage hall — which is where the police have been retaining protesters for the past few days.
“Brothers,” a senior police officer addressed the workers before detaining them, “you have two options: either face detention or go home. You do not have permission to protest here.”
Responding to this, a worker referred to the Madras High Court observation on Wednesday, and asked why they were being blocked from protesting. The policeman did not reply. He asked the tea shop owner to close down for a few hours, and the workers were detained and taken away.
When this reporter asked the police why the workers were being taken away, one officer pointed a finger at the land owner of the ground where the protests are being held. “He revoked permission,” the officer claimed.
The land in question is owned by advocate Mohandoss — who is also a member of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which has been facing severe criticism for the way the protests have been handled, with critics accusing the party and the government of siding with Samsung instead of standing up for the rights of workers. Mohandoss refuted the claims of the police however. “I have not revoked permission,” he told TNM, “You asked me why I am supporting Samsung employees despite being a DMK person. The reason is that the action of the police is against the law. Despite the Madras HC order, police are trampling the rights of the workers as they don’t want a union to be formed. All this time, the land was used by Samsung to park their vehicles. Nobody had a problem then, but there is a furore when workers are demanding their rights. I get this courage from Kalaignar’s ideologies. And I will continue to stand by the Samsung employees.”
So why have policemen deployed at the protest site since before dawn on Thursday?
As the officers stood around checking the ID card of anyone who tried to enter the area, even the residents of Echoor and nearby panchayats found it difficult to enter their homes without encountering the police. Any Samsung employee who tried to come in was asked to either go home or detained.
Two employees, however, managed to hide themselves from the police at a nearby restaurant. On the condition of anonymity, one worker said, “I came to attend the protest. When I stepped out after eating breakfast, there was a huge deployment of police personnel. I don’t know why they are looking at us as if we are terrorists.”
By afternoon though, the restaurant was filled with policemen, and the workers were nowhere to be found.
One police officer explained the developments of the protest in detail when asked about what’s happening. “The only way to end this [protest] is if the union is recognised by the labour department ,” he said, in a matter-of-fact manner.
The registration of the union is the main demand of hundreds of Samsung’s Sriperumbudur factory workers who have been protesting since September 9. In July this year, as many as 1,500 employees out of around 1,700 who work at the plant signed up to become members of the Samsung India Thozhilalar Sangam, also known as the Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU), affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). 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 Labour department. But the workers heard no word from the government for much longer than the stipulated time, triggering the protests.
Their demands also included approval of wage revisions, and formulation of better working hours. After the intervention of the Tamil Nadu government, a three member committee consisting of Industries Minister TRB Rajaa, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister TM Anbarasan, and Labour Welfare Minister CV Ganesan held talks with the company and the striking employees. At the end of a 12-hour marathon meeting on October 7, Samsung India agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with some of its workers, the CITU has announced that the strike will continue because their key demand — the registration and recognition of the newly formed SIWU — was not accepted.
Things took a turn for the worse for the workers when the Tamil Nadu police arrested eight of the striking workers in the middle of the night this week, entering their homes around 3 am on October 9. They accused the workers of assaulting and obstructing the police from discharging their duties. A tent they had set up on the site was also removed.
The employees, led by CITU, took the matter to the Madras High Court later that day alleging that the police forcefully entered the homes of some workers and arrested them. Based on a Habeas Corpus petition, the court observed that the workers should not be stopped from holding a peaceful protest and ordered their release.
However, the police then took two of the workers — Ellan, the general secretary of SIWU, and Suryaprakash, a union member, to the judicial magistrate of Sriperumbudur. The magistrate remanded the two of them to 15 days of judicial custody.
And despite the Madras HC’s order that the protests should be allowed, the police continued their crackdown on October 10.
In the evening of October 10, 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.
Advocate Thirumoorthy, representing the workers at the courts, said that 32 workers were released following the move. “We asked the magistrate to summon the investigation officer or conduct a field visit to understand the ground reality and violation of human rights. The court appointed the head clerk as the court observer along with me to visit the station to see how many people had been detained,” he added.
Raghav (name changed) who was detained on October 10 and later released the same day, told TNM that he was taken to a hotel and held in a room. “CITU leaders and comrades filed a petition and got a few of us out around 12.30 pm. We submitted the bond surety at court. But our leaders and several others have been detained,” he said.
“When we expressed our interest to form a union in July, the Samsung management said we cannot succeed in it, and that the government was with them,” Raghav said, “I have been here for nine years. Many workers have resigned due to health issues. The union has become the only option to ensure our rights — but they are calling it illegal despite evident violations. We will continue fighting and we will win.”