On October 3, workers at the Samsung India factory at Sunguvarchatram near Kanchipuram are on their 25th day of strike. Photo courtesy: Velankanni Raj. b
the story So Far:On 15 October, the Tamil Nadu Labor Department announced that the month-long strike at Samsung’s manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur had ended After successful negotiations between the workers and the company management. Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU), affiliated with the Center for Indian Trade Unions, announced the call off of the strike and said they would return to work on October 17. While workers have raised various economic demands such as an increase in their wages over the next two years, at the heart of their protest is the demand for recognition of the SIWU. The management has continued to defer this particular demand, and the workers have resorted to the judicial route, with the matter now pending before the Madras High Court.
When was Samsung India started?
Samsung, a South Korean company, began its operations in India in 1995. The biggest generator of revenue for the company in India is smartphone devices, most of which are manufactured at its second plant in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Its facility in Sriperumbudur was established in 2007, and produces consumer durables such as televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners. It employs approximately 5,000 employees. In 2022, the company signed an MoU with the Government of Tamil Nadu through an investment of ₹1,588 crore to set up a new plant to produce compressors for refrigerators.
How do East Asian companies view unions?
Forming a labor union in a foreign-owned enterprise in India is a challenge in itself; one has to go through many political-bureaucratic hoops to get it registered. However, getting this recognized by management has often proven even more difficult. Labor subordination and discipline remain the default settings of most East Asian companies operating in India, especially in the last two decades. Some notable workers’ protests in different parts of India have been at manufacturing facilities in the East Asian capital – Honda Scooters and Motorcycles in 2005, Maruti Suzuki in 2011-12, Wistron in 2020 and Foxconn in 2021. The stressful working conditions in these factories are shaped and determined by their management philosophy, which largely draws inspiration from the Japanese production method called Kaizen – that is, continuous improvement to increase the intensity of work and reduce idle time. . Over the past few years, through offshore supply chains, global manufacturing in the electronics industry has been reorganized into just-in-time production – a system in which products are made to meet demand rather than in advance of surplus or need. Let’s go. As companies adopt this model to increase efficiency, production increases before product launches and peak sales periods. This leads to a punitive work ethic, a systematic culture of rules and unyielding deadlines.
It is in this context that the demand for representative unions is relevant from a labour-centric perspective. However, past experiences – an apparent reference to the struggle of Maruti Suzuki workers to form a union – show management’s reluctance. They are extremely wary of unions, especially those with communist affiliations, and are wary of their radical actions. As seen in the present case, while there has been some compromise towards other demands, Samsung is adamant in not recognizing SIWU.
Read this also On the right of Samsung workers to form unions
What about labor in South Korea?
In South Korea, companies like Samsung are called chaebols. These are large, diversified business groups that have been owned and controlled by families or their close relatives for generations. Chaebols have dominated the South Korean economy since the 1960s and have significant ties to the country’s politics. Their origins can be traced to the encouragement and support provided by the authoritarian military dictatorship in 1953 to rebuild the economy after the Korean War. The chaebols’ export-led growth strategy depended on their labor management strategies which were a combination of reducing labor costs. , and intensity of work. The work environment has since changed from militaristic labor control and subordination in the 1970s to more paternalistic management practices such as welfare schemes and subsidies in later years. According to scholars Seung-ho Kwon and Michael O’Donnell, with the rise of independent trade unions in the country in the 1980s, chaebols brought automated production systems, introduced external subcontractors, and streamlined their operations to curb the labor force. Reorganized and decentralised. International exposure). Currently, Samsung, founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938, is the country’s largest chaebol.
What are the concerns for India?
The prolongation of the strike is a matter of concern for both the central and state governments – for the former, concerned about India’s manufacturing ambitions and becoming an alternative to China, and for the latter, which is looking to attract foreign investment and signal its political We are forced to strike a balance. Governing philosophy of dignity and justice. Resolution of the issue is therefore a matter of prestige and urgency rather than any pro-labor development.
Anand P. Krishnan is a Fellow at the Center of Excellence for Himalayan Studies, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi NCR and Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi.
published – October 17, 2024 08:30 AM IST