Strike at Samsung Electronics enters second day

SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) — Thousands of union members at Samsung Electronics walked off work for the second straight day on Tuesday over a salary increase, part of their three-day strike that marked the largest industrial action in the tech giant’s 55-year history.

The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), the largest union of the world’s largest memory chip maker, began a three-day strike on Monday.

More than 6,000 members were said to have expressed their intention to take part in the industrial action, but police estimated that around 3,000 people attended the NSEU’s launch rally on Monday.

Despite the strike, Samsung Electronics said there were no production interruptions during the first two days of the industrial action.

The two sides have held several rounds of talks since January but have not been able to resolve their differences over wage increases, vacation arrangements and bonuses.

The union threatened another five-day strike starting July 15 if no progress is made during the current strike.

As of Monday, the NSEU had reported a total membership of 30,000, representing about 24 percent of Samsung Electronics’ total workforce of about 125,000 employees.