Samsung employees striking for better working conditions and higher pay held a massive rally in South Korea on Monday, continuing their action into its third week.
About 1,200 workers from the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) gathered at the Giheung campus in Yongin, South Korea, as reported by the Associated Press.
The rally came after initial wage negotiation talks between the union and Samsung last Friday, according to Bloomberg.
NSEU workers launched an indefinite strike on July 8 after a previous walkout failed to secure their demands for better workplace conditions and benefits.
Although the union represents over 30,000 employees, the number of those participating in the indefinite strike remains unspecified. Nonetheless, it is the largest strike in Samsung’s history.
Samsung expects a significant rise in its second-quarter revenue, driven by an AI boom, with a reported 10-fold increase in profits for the first quarter of 2024. However, NSEU claims that employees are not seeing corresponding pay increases despite these record returns.
Many strikers work at Samsung’s foundry, which produces some of the world’s most advanced computer chips, AFP reported.
Experts indicate that Samsung has a hostile stance towards unions and lacks experience in negotiating with its own workers.
“If Samsung workers succeed in this undertaking, it will empower the rest of South Korea’s labor,” said Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, to AFP.