Samsung workers in Chennai win union recognition following lengthy legal battle

Samsung India Thozhilalargal Sangam, also known as Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU), was formally registered under the Trade Unions Act 1926 by the Tamil Nadu state government on 27 January, following a 37-day long strike by workers at the plant in Kanchipuram and a lengthy legal battle supported by several major trade unions and political parties from the centre leaning ‘India Bloc’, including the Congress Party.

The union is the first at a Samsung Electronics plant in India, where the company operates two large electrical and electronics goods manufacturing sites, and only the second Samsung Electronics workers’ union globally. The first, the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), was formed in South Korea in 2021, despite the company having been in operation for over 55 years. Up until 2021, Samsung Electronics was known for not allowing external trade unions to represent its workers.

Battle for recognition

The battle for union recognition saw over 1,000 workers from the Samsung plant at Kanchipuram, near Chennai, begin an indefinite strike on 9 September 2024, calling for the company to recognise the newly-formed SIWU union, which was established in June 2024. The workers argued the new union was necessary to help them effectively negotiate better wages and improved working conditions with Samsung management. However, they also demanded improved working conditions, alleging that workers were receiving inadequate rest breaks, and called for higher wages. In total, the workers made 20 demands.

The strike was called off 37 days later on 16 October, after Samsung agreed to engage with the workers on their demands around pay and working conditions. The company stated it would file a written reply to the workers’ charter of demands, and strongly denied allegations that workers were not receiving adequate rest breaks.

The employees submitted an online petition in June 2024 for the SIWU union to be registered and recognised, but despite meeting the required membership and other criteria under the Trade Unions Act, the union was not registered by Tamil Nadil government’s Registrar of Trade Unions within the prescribed 45-day legal limit. Tamil Nadu’s government, led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Party, argued that it was unable to register the union within the 45-day limit until the state court considered a legal challenge from Samsung, arguing the union’s application for formal registration should be rejected because the inclusion of Samsung in its name breached trademark rules.

High Court appeal

In September 2024, the employees appealed to Madras High Court, which issued a judgment on 5 December, ordering Tamil Nadu’s Registrar of Trade Unions to decide on the union’s application within six weeks. Following the submission of SIWU’s appeal in September, the Tamil Nadu government’s Labour Department requested repeated time extensions from the high court allowing it to consider the union’s application. However, Tamil Nadu’s Registrar of Trade Unions eventually registered the SIWU as a union on 27 January, the final day of the court-imposed deadline.

Criticising Tamil Nadu’s state government for taking over 200 days to register the union instead of acting within the 45-day limit specified in Indian law, E Muthukumar, SIWU president and district secretary for Kanchipuram at the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), which helped organise the strike and legal challenge to the registration delay, said: “Since the [Tamil Nadu] government wasn’t willing to go by the rule book, we knocked on the doors of the judiciary. And now the TN government has finally come around and approved the registration of the union.”

Commenting on the news the certificate of union registration was only issued on the final day of the High Court deadline, he added: “This delay demonstrates systemic bias against labour rights.”

‘Significant victory’

Labour rights activists hailed the formation and formal recognition of the SIWU union at Samsung’s Chennai plant as a significant victory for workers’ rights both in India and internationally, given the company’s long-standing opposition to recognising external trade unions.

However, the SIWU and CITU unions also criticised Tamil Nadu’s DMK-ruled government, alleging they had sided with Samsung during the strike over working conditions and in the dispute over SIWU’s formal recognition as a union at the Chennai plant.

The strike was ruled illegal because it breached labour laws, and during the dispute, police briefly detained around 100 workers for undertaking a protest march without permission. It was also reported that police had dismantled a protest tent erected by the workers in a village near the plant.  

According to media reports, Samsung did not engage directly with the workers during the dispute, and discussions were facilitated through the Tamil Nadu government. Media sources report that Tamil Nadu’s chief minister MK Stalin instructed industry minister TRB Rajaa, minister for micro, small and medium enterprises TM Anbarasan and labour minister CV Ganesan to negotiate and manage the issue of the strike and protests. 

In October, a month into the strike, Samsung’s management reportedly signed a settlement agreement, or MoU, with a group of workers who had not participated in the strike and wider protest. Samsung referred to these workers as the ‘Workmen’s Committee’. 

On 8 October, Tamil Nadu’s industry minister TRB Rajaa said that Samsung and a ‘Workmen’s Committee’ had reached an agreement to offer the Chennai plant workers a monthly ‘Productivity Stabilisation Incentive’ of Rs 5,000, to be paid between October 2024 to March 2025. This would be in addition to their normal monthly salaries, and it was reported the company had promised that future salary negotiations for 2025–26 would include a commitment to considering making the Rs 5,000 incentive a permanent monthly wage increase for that financial year.

The MoU also reportedly stated that Samsung India would give priority to implementing measures designed to improve both the wellbeing and working environments of employees. This included diversifying the cafeteria’s food menu and opening of a new medical room in the site’s compressor building. The MoU also included a commitment to provide immediate financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh to a worker’s family in the event of the employee passing away while in the company’s employment.

However, the CITU and the striking workers rejected the agreement, stating that workers who had not joined the strike were selected to attend a meeting with the Tamil Nadu government and Samsung, and that settlement terms were dictated to them as part of a strategy to get the strike called off.

“Around 200 of the 1,800 workers, who were not a part of the protest, were selected and taken to the secretariat and made to sit in front of the three ministers,” A Soundararajan, CITU’s general secretary for Tamil Nadu, told reporters. “The Samsung management dictated the terms and called it the MoU. The MoU has nothing to do with the strikers.”

Strike called off

The CITU and SIWU subsequently rejected the MoU and the strike continued, although the workers called off the strike on 16 October following the offer from Samsung to engage with the strikers on issues such as wages and improved workplace facilities.   

Commentators say the registration of the union at Samsung’s Chennai plant has strengthened India’s labour and trade union movement, potentially inspiring other workers to form and join unions to fight on their behalf for improved rights, pay and conditions.

Meanwhile, SIWU president E. Muthukumar claimed the protracted process of gaining union registration was a clear breach of workers’ constitutional rights. 

According to media reports, Samsung’s Chennai plant contributes to around 20–30 per cent of Samsung’s $12 billion annual revenue in India.

Established in 2007, the Chennai manufacturing plant produces products such as televisions, refrigerators and washing machines. Samsung’s second plant in Noida, near Delhi, opened in 2018 and produces smartphones.