Strike at LG Factory
A strike at the LG Electronics’ factory in India is putting a severe strain on production of home appliances ahead of the festival sales season.
Around 400 workers at LG’s plant in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh have went on strike on July 11 (local time), as some workers, who had demanded reduction of working hours and a salary hike, were transferred suddenly to a plant in other state, reported Indian news outlets like Business Standard on July 13 (local time).
Vikas Sharma, general secretary of the LG Electronics Employees Union, said, "We were given the letter on Saturday (July 9), which had ordered 11 employees including myself to be transferred to other plant, but we refused to accept it." The strike started immediately after the 11 employees were allegedly not allowed to enter the factory on July 11.
“850 permanent workers at the plant are on strike and around 1,200 contract workers have also stopped working. The production line is shut down,” said Manoj Kumar Chaubey, head of the LG Electronics Employees Union.
A worker at the plant said, "We sat on a hunger strike on Monday (July 11) and refused to eat food provided by the company." “Two women employees were admitted to hospital after they fainted during the strike,” another worker said.
Sharma said the plant had around 820 W-grade (junior) staff, like technicians, assistant technicians, etc. Sulekha, an employee, said, "We sat on a hunger strike on Monday and refused to eat food provided by the company." Two women employees, Neeru and Hema Negi, were admitted to hospital after they fainted during the strike, another worker said.
The 19-year plant is LG’s largest production base in India for manufacturing home appliances, producing 8,000 refrigerators, 5,000 washing machines and 700,000 compressors a day, in addition to microwave ovens.
It would be inevitable for LG to suffer a big loss owing to a shortage of air conditioners during the season when a higher festival sales is expected, starting from mid-September, if the production were not restored within a few weeks.
“We offer an attractive compensation package that matches prevalent wages across the industry. We are also making ongoing efforts to solve the issue with the district administration” said a local official from the LG plant on July 13.
Business Korea gave calls to LG headquarters in South Korea and tried to ask about its position related to the matter in India, but to fail to get specific answers.