Indian police have detained 104 workers at Samsung Electronics’ home appliance plant in southern India for planning an unauthorised protest march.
The workers, demanding higher wages and better working conditions, have been boycotting work for seven days, disrupting production that accounts for roughly a third of Samsung’s annual Indian revenue of $12 billion.
According to senior police officer K. Shanmugam, the workers were detained as they planned to march without permission, which could have caused disruptions in the area.
“It is the main area which would become totally paralyzed and (the protest would) disturb public peace,” he said.
The detained workers, wearing their Samsung uniforms, were transported to a wedding hall, as the police stations were unable to accommodate all of them.
A union leader of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), A. Jenitan, confirmed that one of their senior leaders, E. Muthukumar, was also detained.
The strike, which began last week, has seen workers protesting at a makeshift tent near the plant, demanding higher wages, recognition for the CITU-backed union, and better working hours. Samsung has refused to recognise any union backed by an outside labor group.
The South Korean company is planning job cuts of up to 30% of its overseas staff in some divisions, including in India. India’s antitrust body has also found that Samsung and other smartphone companies colluded with e-commerce giants to launch devices exclusively, violating competition laws, according to Reuters
In a statement on Friday, Samsung said it had initiated discussions with its workers to resolve the issues at the earliest. However, the company did not respond to a request for comment on the latest developments.
The detention of the striking workers marked a significant escalation of the labor dispute, which could have far-reaching implications for Samsung’s operations in India.
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