After 38 days of protest and 212 days of legal battle, the Tamil Nadu Labour Department registered the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-backed Samsung India Workers’ Union (SIWU) on January 27, marking a victory for the labour movement.
The union, Samsung India Thozhilalargal Sangam, registered under the Trade Unions Act, 1926. Over 1,000 workers of Samsung India Electronics in Sunguvarchatram, Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, protested on September 9, 2024. They demanded registration and recognition of their union, drawing national and global attention.
“One hundred and six years ago, in 1918, the Madras Labour Union became the country’s first workers’ union. Today, the city makes history again,” said E. Muthukumar, CITU leader and SIWU president.
The SIWU is India’s first Samsung workers’ union and the world’s second after South Korea’s National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), said Muthukumar.
Union leaders called forming a union at Samsung exceptional, given the company’s longstanding “no-union” policy. The Kancheepuram plant, which produces televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines, contributes nearly a third of Samsung Electronics’ Indian revenue
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The SIWU applied online for registration on June 26, 2024. Despite meeting membership requirements and other criteria, the union remained unregistered beyond the Act’s 45-day limit.
On September 20, 2024, the union approached the Madras High Court. The workers’ legal battle lengthened as the Labour Department sought repeated extensions.
Kancheepuram police arrested several Samsung workers at midnight on October 8. The next day, police dismantled the workers’ protest tent at Echoor village. Police arrests of workers and union leaders continued in Chennai and Kancheepuram.
The High Court gave the Registrar of Trade Unions a six-week deadline until December 5 to decide on the union’s application. N.G.R. Prasad, the workers’ lawyer, argued in court that the Registrar could not indefinitely delay the decision.
‘Beyond money or welfare’
Speaking to Frontline in October 2024, Muthukumar said, “This goes beyond money or welfare. The company denies our right to form a union to discuss these issues.”
S. Sivakumar, another advocate for the workers, told Frontline, “Union formation is a fundamental right under Article 19 of the Constitution. Union registration cases rarely reach court. The government’s handling of the Samsung workers’ case disgraces it.”
SIWU has 1,350 members. Of the plant’s 1,850 workers, Muthukumar expects 400 more to join.
“While the government maintains policies for women and students, it lacks policies for labour,” Muthukumar said. “The government must ensure corporate companies follow our labour laws and Constitution.”
Pazhani*, a 34-year-old Samsung operator, welcomed the union’s registration. “We struggled through these five months since September. After we ended our protest, government ministers promised no punitive action from management. Yet the company threatened to transfer young union supporters to different departments.”
“I no longer need anonymity,” Pazhani said. “The court and law protect our rights now. Still, union discipline requires our leadership to speak for us.”
CITU State president A. Soundararajan said, “The registration should have come through normal legal channels. Instead, the government sided with Samsung management, forcing workers to protest for 38 days. The Labour Department was first given four weeks, then six weeks, to decide, yet waited until the final day. All political parties except the BJP and DMK supported our workers.”
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The registration strengthened the labour movement, showing workers they could win their battles and fight exploitative policies through unions.
Members of the INDIA bloc—the Congress, the CPI(M), the Communist Party of India, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi—and opposition leaders Seeman of Naam Tamilar Katchi and Premalatha of Desiya Murpokku Dravidar Kazhagam met with workers in solidarity. The trade unions All India Trade Union Congress, Indian National Trade Union Congress, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, All India Central Council of Trade Unions, Trade Union Coordination Centre, Left Trade Union Centre, Working People Trade Union Congress, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Labour Progressive Front supported the cause.
The NSEU, formed after 30,000 Korean workers protested, backed SIWU in September 2024. SIWU held its first general assembly on July 8, 2024, coinciding with NSEU’s first general strike. NSEU’s September 14 solidarity note stated, “The CITU and SIWU unions lead a legitimate struggle for Indian workers’ rights.”
