Nearly 100 workers of Samsung India, along with CITU leader E Muthu Kumar, President of the Samsung India Workers Union, were arrested on Monday morning. The workers were let off in the evening. However, the whereabouts of Kumar was not known, said a worker who is participating in the strike.
The workers were heading towards the Kanchipuram Collectorate to meet the Collector and hand over a memorandum on the ongoing strike. However, permission that had been granted on Sunday night was withdrawn at the last minute, according to a worker who is on strike along with over 400 workers one km from the Samsung plant in Sunguvarchatram.
While the 150 workers are housed in a mandapam, the whereabouts of the CITU leader is unknown, he said.
The strike entered its eighth day as workers demanded the right to form a union and sought wage revision under the banner of the Samsung India Workers Union. Production has been significantly affected, according to the striking workers. This is the first strike in the history of the 16-year-old plant, which manufactures various consumer durables, including ACs, refrigerators, and washing machines.
The plant employs around 1,700 workers, and their wages are lower than those of some industrial workers. “For 16 years, these workers have been without a registered union, but the management’s attitude, prudishness, abusive practices, and workload have prompted the workers to form a union,” a strike notice said.
Workers claimed that the company has deployed hundreds of casual labourers and apprentices to keep the factory running. Production is just around 25 per cent, they claimed.
Meanwhile, the strike will continue on Tuesday, said sources.