Samsung’s labour pangs: The unrest shows why the management, workers, and the govt should have played a more proactive role

The two-week-long labour strike at Samsung’s plant at Sriperumbudur in Chennai is showing signs of escalation, with both sides refusing to budge from their hard stand. The impasse has come at the most inopportune time, when the government is doing its best to get global firms to set up their manufacturing base in India. This requires the firms concerned to relocate their base from countries like China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Naturally, the companies would weigh the advantages of such relocation. Lack of adequate infrastructure and high tariff walls act as big disadvantages of coming to India.