Hundreds of workers at Samsung Electronics – the world’s top maker of smartphones, TVs and memory chips – have been striking in Tamil Nadu, demanding better working conditions, higher wages and that their labour union be recognised.
The majority of workers at Samsung’s home appliances factory in Sriperumbudur, a town near Chennai, have been protesting since September 9, making it one of the biggest strikes in India in recent years.
About 70% out of the 1,800 people employed by the factory have taken part, disrupting operations and setting up a makeshift tent near the factory.
Samsung Electronics has warned that workers who continue to strike will not be paid their wages and could face termination, saying its policy is based on “relevant laws and regulations”.
The plant in Sriperumbudur makes electronic products such as refrigerators, televisions and washing machines. It accounts for roughly a third of Samsung’s annual revenue in India of $12 billion.
The workers earn Rs 25,000 on average per month, according to the powerful labour group Centre of Indian Trade Unions that has helped mobilise the factory workers. They are demanding a raise of Rs 36,000 over three years.
Muthu, a 33-year-old worker who requested to use a pseudonym due to fears of reprisals, told Context that he and his colleagues were determined to fight until Samsung recognised and upheld their rights.
Here is his story:
Leaving my native village 12 years ago was not a choice but a necessity due to the lack of good employment opportunities in rural Tamil Nadu. The booming industrial growth in Sriperumbudur offered hope and options.
I joined the Samsung India unit in 2012. But over the years, I have become more and more resolute in my fight to form a union that can speak for all of us.
We have many demands but mainly we want to be treated with respect and dignity. We have faced too much humiliation at the hands of our supervisors at Samsung.
This is our collective experience – all 1,250 workers protesting here.
That is why we decided to form a union – the Samsung India Workers Union – and applied for its registration on July 25.
There were nearly 1,500 workers supporting our demand for the union – or more than 75% of those at our unit.
Despite meeting all industrial rules, our union has not been officially registered. Samsung is also refusing to recognise it, which is a violation of our rights as workers.
We have many problems.
We often work beyond our nine-hour shifts, without any overtime pay. We do not have a choice to refuse. Most workers have to travel long hours just to reach the unit.
Even though we are allowed nearly 30 days of leave in a year, our managers rarely approve them.
When some of us are late or raise concerns, we are isolated and made to sit in empty rooms until our supervisors let us back in to work. Sometimes we are made to stand in isolation for hours.
A bigger concern is that there is no transparency in wages. I have worked here for more than 10 years, is it fair that I am not even aware of the rules for a pay hike?
The nature of our work requires us to stand all day, except when we get to take short five to 10-minute breaks. This sometimes causes health issues such as painful varicose veins. We want more breaks.
My colleagues have made multiple demands for better working conditions over the years – from fixed eight-hour shifts to enjoying time off without fears of losing our jobs.
But such demands prompted Samsung to remove some of them and warn others into silence. In one instance, eight people were fired without notice.
While internal committees are formed to address grievances, the truth is that they have no real power.
Rather, they segregated us into grades to quell dissent over wages, with pay decreasing with each grade. We were never given an explanation on why and on what basis the segregation exists despite repeated requests.
All of these concerns snowballed and brought us to a common decision to organise ourselves as a union.
The “no work, no pay” condition has put us in a difficult position as many of us are sole breadwinners and have to pay monthly loan installments. Some of my colleagues may have given in because of this harsh reality.
Some Samsung officials had visited some of the workers at their homes, offering them perks and urging them to return to work. But why not just listen to what we want instead?
It does not matter what Samsung does or says. We do not intend to give up until our union is recognised.
(This first-person account has been edited for length and clarity)
This article first appeared on Context, powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
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