The Madras High Court on Thursday, December 5 gave the Tamil Nadu government six weeks time to decide on the registration of Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU) at the company’s plant in Sriperumbadur near Chennai. A bench led by Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy directed the Registrar of Trade Unions to take a decision on the application filed in June.
According to the law, the union should have been registered within 45 days of sending the application to the Labour department. But the workers heard no word from the government for much longer than the stipulated time, triggering a massive protest in September. More than 1,200 employees of this unit went on a strike demanding better wages, working conditions, and the recognition of a labour union–affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). Heavy police personnel were also deployed to detain the protesters, even after the Madras HC ordered that the workers have a right to protest.
A writ petition was filed by P Ellan, SIWU General Secretary, in the Madras High Court against the Tamil Nadu government labour department for the delay in union registration. Samsung India filed an impleading petition in this case. Senior advocate R Rajagopal, representing Samsung, said that the company cannot have any association with a political party. “Samsung is an international company. They have a right to register but do not have the fundamental right to use Samsung’s name. They even went on a strike which caused us a loss of [USD] 100 million,” Livelaw reported him saying.
Hearing the petition again on Thursday, the Madras High Court observed that it was the statutory duty of the registrar of the trade union/joint commissioner of the Labour Department to pass an order under the Trade Unions Act, 1926. Following several rounds of discussion, the Tamil Nadu government had promised the workers that the union would be recognised and the strike was called off on October 16.
