On July 8 of this year, nearly 30,000 workers protested against one of the world’s biggest electronics manufacturing conglomerates, Samsung, in its hometown of South Korea. The same year saw another massive protest in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, involving 1,350 workers against the same company. Despite having different nationalities, languages, races etc., they were united in the capitalist oppression they faced.
“Disruption of Production for Better Working Conditions “
Foundations of Evil:
Despite Samsung being a leading electronics company, the working conditions for its employees are dehumanising. Investigations by Hankyoreh reporters at Samsung Electronics plants in India, Vietnam, and Indonesia found frequent illegalities. Workers reported violations of minimum wage and probationary worker laws, forced labour, unfair terminations, and verbal abuse, among other issues.
Samsung entered India in 1995. One of its two plants is located near the southern industrial city of Chennai, while the other, dubbed the “world’s largest mobile factory,” opened in 2018 in Uttar Pradesh. The Sriperumbudur plant, which opened in 2007, manufactures refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, and other appliances. This facility accounts for 20-30% of Samsung’s annual revenue in India, which totals $12 billion, and employs approximately 1,800 people. It plays a key role in Samsung’s global supply chain, using India’s growing market to boost regional competitiveness.
The plant is located within the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT), established in 1971. The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Act of 1965 aimed to provide single-window clearances and a range of incentives to facilitate domestic and foreign investment in the state. This laid a basis for the catastrophic liberalization, privatization, and globalization policies that followed. While SIPCOT projects itself as a beacon of economic growth and employment generation, it is a ground for corporate exploitation. There have been numerous cases of poor working conditions, illegal wage theft, lack of job security, union suppression, and non-compliance with labour laws.
The Protest:
The annual increment for Samsung employees in Chennai, announced in May, was set at Rs. 2500. This hike neither reflects market inflation, nor the ugly profits made by the company. In 2023, the increment was of only Rs. 3500*. Only a small percentage of the permanent employees, categorized by factory management as “A,” “B,” and “C” grade workers, actually received the full increment for 2024. “A” grade employees (approximately five to ten employees) are entitled to the Rs. 2500 annual increase, while B and C grade employees are set to receive just Rs. 1000 and Rs. 900, respectively. The top annual salaries for employees range from Rs. 50,000 to around Rs. 55,000, exclusive of a provident fund of about Rs. 3000. On average, a worker receives only Rs. 31,000 and takes home just Rs. 28,000. The factory officially operates two nine-hour shifts, each with approximately 800 workers. The first shift is from 8 am to 5 pm, and the second shift is from 8 pm to 5 am. However, all workers are required to work a minimum of 11 hours per day, four days a week, as overtime. Some employees spend long hours alone in poorly lit areas, working until they are exhausted, going without breaks for long. Hence, workers formed a union to challenge Samsung’s infringement on their labour rights. The Samsung India Labour Welfare Union (SILWU) was established by Samsung employees in July 2023, with the workers seeking government recognition and aiming to establish affiliation with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), which represents numerous workers in Sriperumbudur and the industrial belt of which it is part.
The union-busting tendencies of Samsung are well-documented, with its founder, Lee Byung-chul, asserting that the company would not tolerate unions until “dirt covered his eyes”. When Samsung management received notice of the formation of the union, they began harassing employees to dismantle it. The workers submitted their application for the registration of the Samsung Independent Workers Union (SIWU) to the Registrar of Trade Unions on June 27. More than 90 days have elapsed since then. According to the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947, a 14-day notice is required for a legal strike. SIWU sent their strike notice on August 19, nearly three weeks before the strike, still, the government declared the strike illegal. Samsung has used this “illegal” designation to withhold wages of the strikers. For the ruling party, maintaining ‘ease of business’ clearly had primacy to upholding hard-earned labour rights. Hence, all essential legal protections and progressive jurisprudence, including Article 19(1)(c) of the Constitution, which guarantees workers the fundamental right to form unions were disregarded. All these culminated together in the massive 37 day strike by the workers since September 9.
State Repression:
The self-proclaimed harbinger of social justice, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), sided with Samsung in suppressing workers. The state police safeguarded corporate interests. On October 8, around 250 workers were detained. In a midnight crackdown, ten office-bearers of the union were picked up from their homes. The police went on to take down the tent at the protest site and threatened nearby shops for providing food or water to the protesters. When leftist parties, including CPI, CPI(M), and CPI(ML) Liberation, held a protest in solidarity with the workers, the police detained them, despite them being part of the ruling alliance. TRB Rajaa, the Minister for Industries, Investment Promotions, and Commerce, spread fake news of Samsung management and workers having reached a resolution. The striking workers clarified that management had included some workers in a “workers’ committee” and falsely claimed to have signed an agreement with them, completely bypassing the striking workers. Additionally, many media outlets sided with the corporation, portraying both the workers and the trade unions as anti-development.
The workers ended the strike on 17th October after the Samsung management decided to accept most of the workers’ demands. While SIWU had agreed to the proposals, its petition seeking registration of the union was still pending before the Madras High Court. Justice Manjula had sought responses from both the State’s Labour Commissioner and the statutory authority the Registrar of Trade Unions on the petition.
MNCs like Samsung exploit the cheap labour and lax labour laws of a developing nation like India where the policies have to strictly conform to neoliberal diktats. Irrespective of the party at the centre or the state, the bias would always be towards the domestic or foreign companies. With the introduction of the new labour codes, unionizing, living wages, job security etc. will become much harder to retain in the coming days.
*https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/09/20/ugjq-s20.html
