Samsung Elec union in South Korea announces indefinite strike

A union at technology giant Samsung Electronics in South Korea said on Wednesday it would continue its strike indefinitely and step up its campaign for better wages and benefits, Reuters reported.
The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), whose approximately 30,000 members make up almost a quarter of the company’s South Korean workforce, said it had decided to continue the strike because management showed no signs of negotiating after a strike that began on Monday.
“We have not spoken to management since the strike began on Monday,” said Lee Hyun-kuk, the union’s vice president.
The union announced it would extend the strike, which was originally scheduled to last three days, until Wednesday. Lee told Reuters that the strike had disrupted production on certain chip manufacturing lines, for example by causing equipment to run slower.
Samsung said the strike did not cause any disruption during the first three days.
“Samsung Electronics will ensure that there are no disruptions to the production lines. The company remains committed to negotiating with the union in good faith,” the company said in a statement.
The union is becoming increasingly vocal and wants to be treated as an equal partner. This increases the challenges for the world’s largest memory chip maker, which is struggling to compete with chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Lee said about 6,500 workers had taken part in the strike and that the union would encourage more members to join.
Union officials denied reports of low turnout, telling Reuters that the five-year-old organization had not had enough time to educate its members on labor issues. The union held a training session on Tuesday and will hold another on Wednesday.
Analysts said it would be difficult to verify whether the strike had caused production disruptions if the union did not provide details about wafers and processes.
The union said it had revised its demands, asking for a 3.5 percent increase in basic pay and, instead of an extra day of vacation, a day off to commemorate the union’s founding. Lee said management had previously offered a 3 percent increase in basic pay, but the union wanted 3.5 percent to better reflect inflation.
Samsung’s share price fell 0.3%, while the benchmark KOSPI index was little changed at 04:23 GMT.