With the festive season nearing, Korean major Samsung is ensuring that the strike by its employees at the Sriperumbudur consumer durable factory does not disrupt production. It is managing the show with the help of the 700-odd workers who are not participating in the strike.
While around 1,100 of the company’s employees (out of a total of 1,800) are on strike for the last two weeks demanding wage revision and the right to form union. Apart from making use of those who are not participating in the strike, the company has also managed to deploy another 500 workers—apprentices, contract laborers and staff from other departments such as logistics and quality control, sources have told businessline.
Production was disrupted by 50 per cent on day one of the strike, and the company managed to increase production to 60 per cent on day two. Through various initiatives, the production at the factory is now 85-90 per cent and will be 100 per cent later this week, said sources.
In FY23, Samsung’s revenue from home appliances and televisions sales (goods produced in the Chennai factory) was around ₹19,000 crore, according to documents submitted with the Registrar of Companies.
Last week, the company issued a show cause notice, which said the workers were on “an illegal strike” from September 9, 2024.
The management proposes to impose 8-day wage duty. “It is needless to mention that you shall not be entitled to wages from September 9, 2024 to the date you report back to work, on ‘’No Work, No Pay’ policy’ basis,” the company said in its show cause notice to the striking workers.
“If you fail to report to work within four days from the date of receipt of this notice, you are directed to show cause within seven days from the date of receipt of this notice why you should not be dismissed from service,” the notice said.
After the show cause notice was issued, the company managed to get back 70-80 striking, sources said.
“At Samsung India, the welfare of our workers is our top priority. The average monthly salary of our full-time manufacturing workers at the Chennai plant is 1.8 times the average salary of similar workers employed at other companies in the region. Our workers are also eligible for overtime pay and other allowances and we provide a workplace environment that assures the highest standards of health, safety and welfare,” said a spokesperson for Samsung India
“We reiterate that we are ready to engage with our workers to address their grievances, so that they can return back to work at the earliest,” the spokesperson said