THIS INDUSTRIAL BELT along the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway has been in the news lately for all wrong reasons. An industrial action at the South Korean electronics giant Sam sung had indeed pushed this belt to international limelight. At a time when both the centre and the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government are going the extra mile to woo overseas investment, the labour unrest at Samsung pushed ev erybody on the back foot. Fortunately, a resolution was found for the imbro glio. But, the stand-off at Samsung has brought to limelight the role of trade unions in the fast-evolving and drasti cally changing business environment. In a country like India which has over 140 crore people, job creation assumes top priority. In the past, incentives proved a major attraction for invest ment. Today, investment moves where the environment is friendly. The epi sodes like the one at Samsung aren’t a good advertisement for any state trying to attract foreign investment. It is in this context one must view the recent wage pact at Stahl India Private Lim ited, one of the earliest to set up shop in the Sriperumbudur industrial belt. Veteran trade union leader S Parama sivam, who signed the 10th three-year wage agreement on behalf of the work men at Stahl, has often underscored the need for looking at things from a larger perspective where or ganisational growth gets top priority. According to him, it calls for fostering and promot ing the idea of togetherness in the journey towards growth. What is required in the current context is a sense of responsi bility and fairness especially from the union leaders. They need to readjust to the modern day compulsions.
