Samsung employees striking for improved working conditions and higher wages held a large rally in South Korea on Monday as their protest enters its third week. Approximately 1,200 members of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) gathered and marched around the Giheung campus in Yongin.
The rally followed initial wage negotiation discussions between the union and Samsung that took place on Friday. Workers from the NSEU began an indefinite strike on July 8 after previous walkouts did not yield the advancements they were seeking in the workplace.
While the union claims to represent over 30,000 employees, the exact number participating in the indefinite strike remains unclear. Nevertheless, this is recognized as the largest strike in the history of the technology giant.
In contrast to the striking workers’ demands, Samsung anticipates a more than 1,450% increase in its second-quarter revenue year-on-year, driven by a surge in artificial intelligence, and has reported a tenfold increase in profits for the first three months of 2024. However, the NSEU contends that employees have not experienced wage increases commensurate with these record profits.
Many strikers are employed at Samsung’s foundry, which manufactures some of the world’s most sophisticated computer chips. Despite the union’s efforts, experts highlight Samsung’s well-documented hostility toward unionization and its limited experience in negotiations with employees.
According to Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, the success of Samsung workers in this strike could empower the broader labor movement in South Korea.