Samsung employees declare indefinite strike to demand better wages and vacation arrangements

CNN — Seoul/New Delhi (CNN) — The largest union at Samsung Electronics in South Korea has called an indefinite strike after a three-day walkout failed in a heated dispute between workers and the technology giant over wages and bonuses.

Wednesday’s announcement followed a strike earlier this week involving 6,000 workers, mostly from the company’s semiconductor division, according to the union.

The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) said its 31,000 members – representing nearly a quarter of the company’s total workforce in the country – would begin an indefinite strike starting July 10, the largest industrial action in the smartphone and chipmaker giant’s 55-year history.

The company will “regret this decision” not to come to the negotiating table, the union said in a statement published on its official website.

The longer the strike lasts, the more likely it is that management will “kneel down” and engage in dialogue, the NSEU said, adding that it was “confident of victory”.

Samsung Electronics said in a statement on Wednesday that the company “remains committed to negotiating with the union in good faith,” adding that it “will ensure that there are no disruptions to production lines.”

However, union leader Son Woomok told CNN on Monday that it “will take a long time to repair the facilities closed due to a strike.”

The conflict first attracted attention in June, when the union organized a one-day strike after failed negotiations on a transparent wage structure and better working conditions.

The world’s largest memory chip maker has had a rough few years. A historic shortage of computer chips during the Covid pandemic was followed by falling demand last year as consumer demand for electronics remained weak due to global economic uncertainty.

But thanks to the AI ​​boom, things are looking up for the company.

The company hopes that demand for mobile devices will pick up again this year, especially with the launch of new products such as AI-based smartphones. Samsung Electronics said last week that it expects operating profit to rise more than 15 times in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.

The workers want this optimism to be reflected in their pay. “The company is not treating employees right,” Woomok said on Monday.

“Even though operating profits are high, the company has been declaring itself in a crisis situation for over a decade and employee dissatisfaction over the lack of performance bonus increases is growing,” he added.

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