Tamil Nadu, the laboratory of the Indian economy put to the test by strikes at Samsung
Since 9 September, about a thousand workers have been asking for higher salaries and their own union. The southern Indian state has been an important industrial hub for hi-tech production since the 1990s; unlike other states where economic growth dominates, it has seen social progress as well, due especially to policies that do not take into account caste or religion.
Chennai (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Indian workers at the Samsung plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu have been on strike for about three weeks to demand higher wages and union recognition. More than a thousand workers out of 1,800 are involved in the labour action.
In a letter addressed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya urges the state government to solve the situation in an "early and amicable" matter, this according to a source.
Workers at Samsung India, who earn an average of 25,000 rupees (US$ 300) a month, are demanding this to rise to 36,000 rupees (US$ 430) over three years; they also want the company to recognise that their recently formed union, the Samsung India Labour Welfare Union, is their representative in the negotiations.
The Chennai facility is one of Samsung's two plants in India, producing mainly home appliances and contributing to a third of the South Korean company's US$ 12 billion in annual revenue in India.
Samsung said that wages are already high, almost twice as much as those paid by other companies in the same area (like Foxconn and Dell).
"Since the factory was founded, employees have worked without complaints and without a union. But things have gotten worse in the last two years and now we need the support of a union," one protester told the BBC.
The strike in Tamil Nadu is backed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), which in turn enjoys the support of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Several multinationals with a presence in India oppose workers' membership in external unions supported by local left-wing parties. To prevent this, they ensure rotation among workers, hiring unskilled young people from rural areas on a temporary basis, some CITU members explained.
The labour protests, which began on 9 September, are seen as an obstacle to the ambitions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is pushing for India as an alternative to China, and aiming to triple electronic production to US$ 500 billion in six years.
Tamil Nadu is one of India's top manufacturing hub. Last year, Foxconn, one of the largest manufacturers of electronic components for other electronics companies, primarily Apple, invested US$ 1.5 billion in the southern Indian state.
Experts agree that India still lags far behind China in terms of mass producing electronic goods, but Tamil Nadu is the first Indian state in terms of factories, which number almost 40,000.
The state’s growth in manufacturing has been possible thanks to the application of the so-called Dravidian model, which inspires the state government, in contrast with the Gujarat model, much vaunted by Prime Minister Modi, who served as Gujarat’s chief minister for many years during which the state enjoyed rapid economic growth.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, which has been in power in Tamil Nadu for decades, promotes sustainable industrial development and equality as key elements for prosperity.
The Dravidian movement emerged in the 1920s in order to dismantle Brahmin hegemony, revitalise Dravidian languages (spoken mainly in South India), promote gender equality, and abolish the caste system.
Several studies seem to confirm the success of this development model. In the early 1960s, Tamil Nadu had one of the highest poverty rates and lowest per capita growth rates in India. In 2011 the situation was reversed.
With GDP per capita 2.5 times higher than the rest of the country, high school enrolment, and 4.5 per cent poverty level compared to 18 per cent in Gujarat, the state is unique in India.
The other highly industrialised Indian states, Gujarat and Maharashtra, have been ruled by the Bharatiya Janat Party (BJP), but socio-economic data show that, in terms of social development, they lag behind the southern states, such as Kerala, even though it lacks competitive industries.
In 2022-2023, Tamil Nadu's economic growth was over 8 per cent compared to 7.2 per cent for India as a whole.
Experts note that the state’s progress was facilitated by an information technology policy implemented in 1996, which led the state to be, last year, one of the main exporters of technological products with a turnover of more than US$ 9 billion.
And that is not all. Unlike Gujarat and Maharashtra, manufacturing plants have been decentralised across the state, not concentrated in a few large cities.
Tamil Nadu is also the state with the highest number of entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as Dalits, thanks to programmes that distribute resources without taking into account ethnicity, caste or religion.
The state’s female employment rate is also the highest in the country, thanks to a programme that guarantees a thousand rupees to girls who continue their studies, regardless of their socio-family background.
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07/02/2019 17:28
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