By Praveen Paramasivam and Rishika Sadam
CHENNAI (Reuters) -Indian police have detained 104 striking workers protesting low wages at a Samsung Electronics plant in southern India, as they were planning a march on Monday without permission, police officials said.
The detention marks an escalation of a strike by workers at a Samsung home appliance plant near Chennai city in the state of Tamil Nadu. Workers want higher wages and have boycotted work for seven days, disrupting production that contributes roughly a third of Samsung’s annual India revenue of $12 billion.
On Monday, the workers planned to start a protest march, but were detained as there was no permission given as there are schools, colleges and hospitals in that area, said senior police officer of Kancheepuram district, K. Shanmugam.
“It is the main area which would become totally paralysed and (the protest would) disturb public peace,” he said.
“We have detained them in wedding halls as all of them can’t be in stations,” he added.
Workers have since last week been protesting at a makeshift tent near the plant, demanding higher wages, recognition for a union backed by labour group Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and better working hours.
Samsung is not keen to recognise any union backed by an outside labour group.
Samsung did not respond to a request for comment, but on Friday said it has initiated discussions with its workers at the Chennai plant “to resolve all issues at the earliest.”
Video footage from Reuters partner ANI showed dozens of Samsung workers wearing the company uniform of blue shirts being transported in a bus to a hall.
A. Jenitan, a union leader of CITU, told Reuters police also detained one of their senior leaders, E. Muthukumar, who was leading the Samsung protests.
“The workers have been asked to return to the (strike) tent,” he said.
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam, Rishika Sadam; Writing by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Tom Hogue, Michael Perry and Lincoln Feast)
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