Samsung employees go on strike – indefinitely

Samsung Electronics South Korea’s largest union announced an indefinite strike for Wednesday after a previous three-day strike failed to enforce the job benefits fought for by its members.

The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) said its 31,000-member union was striking after 6,000 of its members, mostly working in the semiconductor division, went on strike earlier this week. CNN reported.

NSEU workers, who make up about a quarter of the company’s workforce, are demanding better wages and bonuses, as well as improved working conditions.

The union said Samsung would “regret” not coming to the negotiating table.

“It will take a long time to restart the plants closed due to a strike,” union leader Soon Woomok told CNN.

Samsung expects sales to increase in the second quarter more than 1,450% year-on-year Thanks to an AI boom and reported a tenfold jump in profits for the first three months of 2024. But workers say this success is not reflected in higher wages.

“The company is not treating employees right,” Woomok told CNN on Monday. “Although operating profits are high, the company has been saying it is in a crisis situation for over a decade, and employees are increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of performance bonus increases.”

Samsung told the news agency that the company is “committed to negotiating with the union in good faith” and that it will ensure that the strike does not cause disruption to production.