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DMK govt registers Samsung workers’ union after seven-month protests
Tamil Nadu registers Samsung India Workers Union after a 7-month protest, marking the first such union in India, following a court deadline.
The Tamil Nadu government on Monday registered the Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU) backed by the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), agreeing to their key demand after a seven-month protest by the employees.
This is the first such union to be formed within the company in India. The Madras high court had issued a six-week deadline to the state government to register the union and it was done on the last day of the deadline.
The order signed by the joint commissioner of labour read that it was “certified” that the Samsung India Thozhilalargal Sangam, No. 21B, Vilakkadi Koil Street, Kancheepuram Town, Kancheepuram Taluk, Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu, 631501 has been registered under the Trade Unions Act, 1926.
CITU had spearheaded the protest of more than a 1,000 employees of Samsung India outside of their factory in Kancheepuram’s Sunguvarchatiram from last September. They had listed 1,455 workers from Samsung as members of the union. They had protested for 37 days demanding recognition for the union and fair pay. “CITU congratulates the fighting Samsung Workers and the CITU State Committee of Tamil Nadu for this grand victory,” they said in a statement.
The employees had submitted an online petition seeking registration in June but since Samsung filed an objection to the application, they moved the Madras high court. The court in December fixed a six-week deadline to the DMK-led state government to take a call on registering the union. The South Korean electronics major did not engage with the workers directly and talks were mediated by the Tamil Nadu government.
CITU’s Kanchipuram district office bearer Muthukumar is likely to be the president of the new union. “The state government took over 200 days to register the union instead of taking a decision in 45 days according to the rules,” Muthukumar said. “Since the government wasn’t willing to go by the rule book, we knocked on the doors of the judiciary. And the government has finally come around and approved the registration.”
The protest took a political colour since the DMK government’s allies - CPI (M), CPI, and VCK - supported the employees. The issue escalated when police dismantled the shed under which the employees were protesting last year before the government resolved the matter. The protest was called off last October and the employees returned to work.
