Samsung India workers end month-long strike

The month-long strike by Samsung India workers at the Sriperumbudur factory in Chennai has been called off, and employees will resume work in batches starting from Saturday, announced CITU state president A. Soundararajan on Friday. The strike was called off after the company communicated that workers could return for training beginning on March 8. Soundararajan added that individual notices would be sent to workers.

The CITU leader also stated that the company plans to take disciplinary action against 23 workers who had been suspended earlier.

Additionally, the company had warned workers not to engage in any illegal activities moving forward. It was also noted that the company “understood” from an email sent by the workers on March 6 that the strike would be called off on March 7, according to Soundararajan.

Samsung Notice
In a notice posted outside its plant, Samsung India management stated that the “illegal strike” by certain workers had been called off as of March 7.

“Considering the workers’ request to unblock their IDs and as per management communication dated March 6, we will organise a training programme batchwise,” the notice stated. The training schedule will begin on March 8, excluding the 23 suspended workers.

“The workers under Suspension Pending Enquiry shall undergo Disciplinary Action Proceedings. Workers are advised not to engage in any illegal activities in the future,” the notice reads.

Meanwhile, the strike began on February 5 when a group of SIWU-affiliated workers initiated a sit-in protest after three key union office bearers were suspended. Several reports stated that the suspensions followed an incident where a group of workers allegedly tried to forcefully enter the senior management’s office. The situation escalated when workers moved their protest from a designated area within the factory to the shop floor, demanding the removal of contract workers allegedly hired by management. In response, Samsung suspended 20 more workers. After at least ten rounds of negotiations, the strike was eventually called off. PTI