After protest, Samsung says work as usual at Noida factory, union alleges police threats

NOIDA: Contract workers of the Samsung facility in Noida who started an indefinite strike three days ago raising various demands resumed work on Monday, but a labour union leader accused police of “threatening” them.
They alleged though they had planned to continue with the protest, which began last Friday, police deployed outside the factory forced them to move inside and resume work. According to employees, they started the protest seeking payment for overtime work, distribution of food, appointment of a welfare officer, etc.

The Samsung plant, billed as the world’s largest mobile phone factory in terms of the number of devices produced per month,employs 12,000 workers.

Samsung officials claimed that the unit functioned as usual on Monday.

But Virendra Sirohi, general secretary of Electronic Employees Union in Gautam Budh Nagar, speaking on behalf of the Samsung workers, said that while they wanted to raise their demands through the protest, police was deployed outside the unit as early as 9am and the employees were asked to move inside as soon as they arrived at the factory.

Senior officers, including SP (city), circle officer 2 and SHOs of Phase 2 and 3, were also present at the spot till late night. “The police resorted to threat tactics and did not allow the workers to protest. They wanted to raise multiple grievances, including double payment for overtime and deployment of a welfare officer at the unit,” Sirohi said on Monday. “There is no limit for overtime. Further, there is no welfare officer to regularly check the health of employees who are exposed to chemicals, etc,” he added.

While the district officials, including the deputy labour commissioner, held a meeting with company officials in the evening, they met the workers only after their vendors arrived at the spot around 9 pm.

Circle officer 2 Rajeev Singh told TOI that since the protestors comprised contractual staff, the police waited for the vendors to intervene. “The contractual staff cannot have a union. Hence we were waiting for their vendors. They have raised their demands which included demands for food, etc,” he said.