Workers strike at Samsung factory in India
The consumer tech giant promises that the industrial action will not impact consumers
Mumbai: Samsung Electronics workers in southern India were striking Wednesday to demand better pay and working hours, with the consumer tech giant promising the industrial action would not impact consumers.
India is the world's most populous country and its growing middle class is an important growth market for Samsung, a company whose output accounts for nearly a quarter of South Korea's GDP.
This week's strike marks the conglomerate's latest outbreak of employee discontent, with thousands of unionised workers striking in South Korea in July over pay and benefits.
Hundreds of Samsung employees went on strike from Monday at a plant outside the southern city of Chennai that employs around 1,800 workers to build televisions, refrigerators and other consumer goods.
"In addition to higher wages and better working hours, we are also demanding that the company recognises our union," E. Muthukumar, a worker representative and union leader, told AFP.
"We have given our demands to the company and are in talks with them."
Muthukumar said the strike had impacted production at the site.
But a Samsung India spokesperson said worker welfare was a "top priority" for the firm and that it was ensuring no "disruption" to the company's customers.
"We actively engage with our workers to address any grievances they may have and comply with all laws and regulations," the spokesperson said, without offering details.
India has pitched itself as an emerging manufacturing hub to tech giants seeking to diversify production away from China, owing to geopolitical tensions with the United States and other economic headwinds.
Google this year began manufacturing its flagship Pixel 8 smartphone in India while Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, a principal assembler of Apple iPhones, is establishing a major phone assembly plant near the southern tech hub Bengaluru.
Samsung already operates what was billed on its opening as the world's largest mobile phone factory on the outskirts of New Delhi, with a capacity of about 120 million units per year.