CHENNAI, Sept 16 (Askume) – Police on Monday took Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) into custody in southern India.
The detentions escalated a strike by workers at a Samsung appliance factory near Chennai in Tamil Nadu state. Workers want higher wages and have stopped working at the plant, which contributes about a third of Samsung’s $12 billion annual revenue in India.
Samsung’s protests have undermined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” plan, which aims to attract foreign investors and triple electronics output to $500 billion in six years. Attracted by cheap labor, foreign companies are manufacturing in India to diversify supply chains beyond China.
K. Shanmugam, a senior police official in Kancheepuram district, said the activists had planned to launch a protest march on Monday but were detained without permission as the area has schools, colleges and hospitals.
“This is the main area which will come to a complete standstill and public peace will be disturbed by the protests,” he said.
“We stopped them at the marriage hall as they could not stop at all the stations,” he said.
Samsung workers have been protesting in makeshift tents near the factory since last week, demanding higher wages, recognition of unions backed by the influential labour group Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), and better working hours.
Samsung is not willing to recognise any unions supported by national trade organisations such as CITU, and negotiations with workers and state authorities have yielded no solution.
CITU Tamil Nadu deputy general secretary S Kannan condemned the police action, saying, “This is an old move by the state government.”
Despite the police action on Monday, 12 trade union groups, including those affiliated with Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, announced on September 11 that they would hold protests in Chennai on Wednesday in support of the striking workers. The move could escalate tensions between companies and workers.
CITU deputy district secretary A. Jenitan said: “We are going ahead with Wednesday’s protest… there will be no change in the plan.”
The protests have added to the challenges facing Samsung in India, a key developing market.
it is a korean companyIt plans to lay off up to 30% of its foreign staff in some divisions, including in India. India’s antitrust agency found that Samsung and other smartphone companies violated competition laws by launching devices in exclusive partnerships with e-commerce giants.Askume reported that there was collusion.
Samsung did not respond to a request for comment on Monday, but said on Friday it had begun discussions with workers at its factory in Chennai to “resolve all issues as soon as possible”.
Video footage by Askume partner ANI showed dozens of Samsung employees wearing Samsung uniforms being taken into a lobby on a bus.
There are about 1,800 workers at Samsung factories, of whom more than 1,000 are on strike. The factory produces appliances such as refrigerators, televisions and washing machines. There were no riots at Samsung’s other smartphone manufacturing plant in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
According to CITU’s Jennyattan, the police also detained E. Muthukumar, one of the senior CITU leaders who led the anti-Samsung protests at the factory near Chennai.
Kanchipuram police officer Shanmugam said there was no limit on the detention period of the workers.
