A Samsung showroom. Representative image
Credit: Reuters Photo
Chennai: With the protest by Samsung employees entering a month, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday held separate discussions with the management of the South Korean electronics major and the agitating workers to bring out a solution to their long-pending demands.
A high-level team comprising of Industries Minister T R B Rajaa, Labour Minister C V Ganesan, and MSME Minister T M Anbarasan, met the representatives of Samsung and held talks with them before calling in the protesters and members of CITU for discussions.
The talks came hours after the latest round of discussions between officials of the Labour Department and employees of Samsung failed in the morning.
About 1,000 workers of the plant have been protesting for the past 27 days demanding “fair pay” and the right to form a union to protect their interests. While the protesters have been demanding their pay to be on par with their counterparts in South Korea, Samsung has been engaging with them for the past one month but to no avail.
CITU representative A Soundararajan told reporters that the talks with the state government and the management of Samsung are still on with no solution being arrived at. “We have placed our demands before the Labour department officials and we are waiting to hear from them,” he said.
Officials told DH that the talks are stalemated over the employees demand for formation of the Samsung India Workers Union. “The workers are very clear that they will not budge from the demand for recognition of their union. The bone of contention is the composition of the union,” the source said.
“After meeting Samsung workers on Monday evening, the ministers’ team called the management again for talks. A positive development is expected soon,” the source added.