Samsung employees fighting for improved working conditions and higher wages gathered for a significant rally in South Korea on Monday, marking the third week of their ongoing strike against the tech giant.
Around 1,200 members of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) participated in the rally, marching through the Giheung campus in Yongin, South Korea, as reported by the Associated Press.
This demonstration followed initial wage negotiation discussions that took place on Friday between union representatives and Samsung, according to Bloomberg.
The NSEU declared an indefinite strike on July 8 after a previous walkout did not yield the workplace advancements its members sought.
While the union has representation for over 30,000 workers, it’s unclear how many are currently participating in the indefinite strike. Nevertheless, this action is noted as being the largest in the history of the company.
Despite Samsung projecting a staggering increase of over 1,450% in second-quarter revenue due to the AI surge, along with a ten-fold increase in profits for the first quarter of 2024, the NSEU claims that workers have not seen any corresponding salary increases amid these record returns.
Many striking workers are employed at Samsung’s foundries, where they are engaged in the production of some of the world’s most advanced computer chips.
Experts suggest that Samsung’s historically adversarial stance towards unions, coupled with its lack of experience in negotiating with employees, complicates the situation. Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, stated that if the workers succeed, it could have a significant impact on labor movements across South Korea.