India police detains 600 workers, union members as Samsung protests escalate

By Praveen Paramasivam

CHENNAI (Reuters) - Indian police on Tuesday said it has detained around 600 Samsung Electronics workers and union members for organising a street protest, as a strike at the South Korean firm's home appliances plant in Tamil Nadu state entered its fourth week.

More than 1,000 workers have disrupted operations and protested in a makeshift tent close to the factory near the city of Chennai since Sept. 9. They have demanded higher wages and union recognition at the plant, which accounts for roughly a third of Samsung's annual Indian revenue of $12 billion.

Charles Sam Rajadurai, a senior state police official, said Samsung employees and workers linked to labour group CITU, which is leading the protest, were detained as their protest march near Chennai was inconveniencing the public.

"They are being detained in four wedding halls," he said.

On Sept. 16, police detained 104 striking Samsung workers for almost a day.

The protests cast a shadow over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's drive for foreign investors to "Make in India" and is India's biggest such strike in recent years. Samsung has said the striking workers risk losing their jobs.

Samsung did not respond to a request for comment. It previously said the average monthly salary of full-time manufacturing workers at the plant is nearly double that of similar workers in the region, and that it was open to engaging with workers and to resolve the matter.

Samsung workers earn 25,000 rupees ($300) on average each month and demand a raise of 36,000 rupees a month reached within three years, CITU said.

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam; Writing by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Christopher Cushing)