Samsung Strikes Back: The Largest Labor Movement in Company History

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Samsung employees continued their strike for improved working conditions and higher wages, holding a significant rally in South Korea on Monday. This action marks the third week of their protest against the company.

Approximately 1,200 members of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) participated in the rally, marching through the Giheung campus in Yongin, as reported by the Associated Press.

The rally followed initial wage negotiation discussions between the union and Samsung last Friday, according to Bloomberg.

The NSEU declared an indefinite strike on July 8, after a previous walkout did not yield the desired workplace advancements for its members.

Though the union represents over 30,000 employees, the exact number of those participating in the indefinite strike remains unclear. Nonetheless, this current strike is noted as the largest in Samsung’s history.

Despite Samsung projecting a staggering 1,450% increase in second-quarter revenue year-over-year attributed to the boom in artificial intelligence and reporting a tenfold surge in profits for the first three months of 2024, the NSEU stated that employees have not seen corresponding increases in their salaries amid these record financial results.

A significant portion of the strikers are employed at Samsung’s foundry, where they manufacture some of the world’s most advanced computer chips, as reported by AFP.

Experts indicate that Samsung has a reputation for being unsupportive of union activities and lacks experience in negotiating with its workforce.

Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, commented that if Samsung workers achieve success, it could empower labor movements across the rest of South Korea.

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