Samsung union members begin an “indefinite” strike in South Korea

Unionized workers at Samsung Electronics began an “indefinite” strike on Wednesday after claiming the tech giant would not engage in dialogue over wage and benefit demands. Members of the National Samsung Electronics Union gathered in Hwaseong outside Seoul on Monday ahead of the strike. Photo by Yonhap

The union “confirmed that the company was not ready for dialogue even after the first general strike and called a second, indefinite general strike starting on July 10,” the NSEU said in a statement.

“We have confirmed that there will be a significant disruption to the production line and the company will regret this decision,” it said. “Management will eventually kneel and come to the negotiating table. We are confident of our victory.”

The NSEU has more than 30,000 members, accounting for nearly a quarter of Samsung Electronics’ total South Korean workforce of about 125,000 employees.

A one-day strike by the NSEU last month was the first walkout at the leading smartphone and chipmaker, which had gone decades without significant union representation. Samsung, the country’s largest private employer, changed its stance after a 2019 trial found dozens of top executives guilty of anti-union activities.

Union leaders and Samsung management began wage negotiations in January but failed to reach an agreement. The NSEU’s current demands include a 3.5% increase in basic salary, an additional holiday day, an improved performance bonus system and compensation for all members who participated in the strike.

More than 6,000 union members took part in the first three-day strike on Monday, including about 5,000 from the semiconductor division, the NSEU said earlier this week.

According to local media reports, Samsung Electronics stated that there had been no disruptions in production so far and assured that no such disruptions would occur in the future.

Analysts also expect the impact of the strike on the Suwon-based company to be limited.

“Since semiconductor factories rely on automated production and have little actual labor requirement, we currently believe that even if the strike lasts for a long time, Samsung’s production capacity will not be affected,” Avril Wu, an analyst at Taipei-based Trendforce, told UPI.

The strike comes on the heels of the company’s explosive second-quarter earnings growth, driven by a strong recovery in the memory chip market driven by demand for artificial intelligence.

On Friday, Samsung Electronics said in a regulatory filing that its operating profit for the April-June period reached $7.5 billion, up 1,452.2 percent year-on-year.