Workers of a Samsung facility speak with their union leader E. Muthukumar during a strike to demand higher wages at its Sriperumbudur plant near the city of Chennai, India, September 11, 2024.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Sriperumbudu: Hundreds of workers at Samsung Electronics' southern India plant boycotted work for a third day on Wednesday to demand better wages and working conditions, disrupting output at a consumer electronics facility key for the global tech giant.
The plant, which makes products such as televisions, refrigerators and washing machines, contributes between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of Samsung's annual $12 billion revenue in India, a key growth market for the company, sources have previously said.
The industrial unrest at the plant in Sriperumbudur, near the city of Chennai, is one of the biggest such strikes in recent years in India. The Samsung factory is next to units of other global giants such as Foxconn and Dell in an area popular for automobile and electronics manufacturing.
The workers want Samsung to recognise their union, as well as increase their wages and improve their working hours. Samsung Southwest Asia CEO, J B Park, and other senior executives have travelled to the factory to try to resolve the protests.
"They (Samsung) will soon have to talk to us, just like they had to engage with the Korean union there," union leader E Muthukumar told Reuters.
In July and August, the 36,500 members of Samsung Electronics' biggest worker union in South Korea demanded higher wages and benefits, striking for several days, but there was no impact on production there.
South Korea-based Samsung, which is India's biggest consumer electronics company, did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Samsung India said on Monday that it actively engaged with workers "to address any grievances they may have and comply with all laws and regulations".
In India, the strike comes ahead of a critical festive season when consumers step up purchases and companies dole out discounts.
According to Samsung employees outside the factory, the company has so far not agreed to recognise the union backed by the local labour group, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions.
"We will stand together and secure a win," employees chanted together outside the factory, which is one of Samsung's two plants in India.
Many workers wearing Samsung's blue uniform shirt were seen sitting inside a makeshift tent outside the factory, which employs roughly 1,800 people.
So far, there has been no labour unrest at Samsung's other Indian plant in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which makes smartphones.