CHENNAI: Police have detained around 600 workers and union members from Samsung Electronics who organized a street protest as a strike at the company's home appliances plant in Tamil Nadu entered its fourth week.
Since September 9, more than 1,000 workers have disrupted operations and protested in a makeshift tent near the factory close to Chennai. Their demands include higher wages and union recognition at the plant, which generates roughly one-third of Samsung's annual revenue of $12 billion in India.
Charles Sam Rajadurai, a senior police official, reported that the detained Samsung employees, along with members of the labor group CITU leading the protest, were taken into custody because their march was causing public inconvenience. "They are being detained in four wedding halls," he said.
Earlier in the protests, on September 16, police had detained 104 striking workers for nearly a day.
These protests come at a challenging time for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is promoting foreign investment through the "Make in India" initiative. This strike is among the largest in recent years, and Samsung has warned that the striking workers could face job loss.
While Samsung did not respond to a request for comment, the company previously stated that the average monthly salary for full-time manufacturing workers at the plant is nearly double that of comparable workers in the area. Samsung expressed its willingness to engage with the workers to resolve the ongoing issues.
Currently, Samsung workers earn an average of Rs 25,000 per month, but they are demanding a raise to Rs 36,000 within three years, according to CITU.
