Strike enters second day at Samsung factory in Sriperumbudur

Strike at the Samsung Electronics factory in Sriperumbudur near Chennai entered the second day today with hundreds of employees demanding higher wages.

They put up tents outside the factory as they prepared to boycott work, a Reuters report said. “The Indian plant is one of the two Samsung factories in the country which the company counts as a key growth market. Two sources with direct knowledge said the factory accounts for 20-30 per cent of Samsung’s annual $12 billion revenue in India.”

The posters put up by the workers at the Sriperumbudur factory read “Indefinite strike from 09.09.2024 ... Discuss and solve demands from the labour union with union officials.”

There are 1,800 workers at the plant which makes consumer electronic items such as refrigerators, washing machines, and televisions.

Around half of the daily production was affected at the factory when many workers did not turn up for work yesterday, and the protest is continuing as workers demand higher wages, better working hours and want their union to be recognized by the company, the report said.

“We are striking for the second day,” said union leader E. Muthukumar.

A Samsung India spokesperson had said on Monday that the company actively engages with “workers to address any grievances they may have and comply with all laws and regulations.”

India is not the only country where Samsung Electronics has faced union troubles. In South Korea too there was a strike for several days in July and August.

In northern Uttar Pradesh Samsung has a bigger plant manufacturing smartphones.