600 Samsung workers detained in India’s Tamil Nadu as protests intensify

Around 600 striking workers of Samsung Electronics and union members were detained Tuesday by police in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, officials said. The workers were detained for staging a protest to press for their demands in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu. "The striking workers were detained for causing inconvenience to the public and they had not sought permission for any such demonstration," a police official said. According to police, the workers were kept in four wedding halls. Earlier, on Sept. 16, at least 150 striking Samsung employees were detained for a day in Kancheepuram district of the state after they tried to march to the deputy commissioner's office to present him a memorandum on their ongoing strike. The employees of the South Korean company in the state have been on protest since Sept. 9 demanding an increase in wages and recognition of their union at the plant. The striking workers have boycotted work and have been protesting at a makeshift tent near the plant i n Sunguvarchatram. Talks between the Samsung management, protesting workers as well as local government officials have so far not yielded any results. Reports said the Samsung plant in Tamil Nadu employs over 1,700 workers and more than 1,000 of them have been on strike. Source: The Namibia News Agency