While the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday announced that the Samsung workers’ strike had been called off, the leaders of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said the decision on withdrawing the strike will be taken only on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.

On Tuesday, conciliation talks were held before the officials of the Department of Labour. During the conciliation talks, representatives from both the management and the striking workers participated. According to a statement issued by the Labour Department, four key decisions were arrived at.

Also read: On Samsung workers’ right to unionise

Four key decisions

One, all the striking workers will immediately call off their strike and return to work and on returning to work the management must not victimise the workers for having participated in the strike. The third point was that after returning to work, the workers had to cooperate with the management fully, and not indulge in any such acts prejudicial to the interest of the management. The management will file also a written reply to the charter of demands filed by the workers before the conciliation officer.

The statement from the Labour Department mentioned that both the parties had accepted this advice. “The workers informed that they would call off the strike immediately and return to work. Thus the strike at the Samsung factory has come to an end and all the workers are resuming work,” the statement said.

E. Muthukumar, Kancheepuram district secretary, CITU, who has been leading this strike, said: “We will discuss with the workers and make our announcement (pertaining to withdrawing the strike) on Wednesday. We are having a meeting at 11 a.m. at Kancheepuram. The discussions with the government went smooth on Tuesday. But wait till we make the final announcement tomorrow,” he noted.

A few hours after the official announcement, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin shared a message on X (formerly Twitter) where he said that he was glad that an amicable solution has been arrived at on the Samsung issue. He further said that CITU has been supportive and cooperative in solving this problem. “My heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to the union leaders, all the workers, and the management of Samsung,” he added.

Workers at Samsung India’s manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur have been on a strike since September 9, 2024, demanding better wages, and recognition of their newly-formed union - Samsung India Workers’ Union (SIWU). The Samsung facility in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, has 1,800 workers, of this over 1,000 workers have been protesting. Established in 2007, the facility is one of Samsung’s two factories in India. The other is in Noida. The Tamil Nadu plant makes consumer products, including television sets, washing machines, and air-conditioners. While Samsung conceded to the hike in wages, talks stalled after the workers sought recognition of the union before they returned to work, and the management refused to do so.