Samsung employees striking for better working conditions and higher pay held a massive rally in South Korea on Monday as their action against the company continues into its third week.
About 1,200 workers from the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) gathered and marched along the Giheung campus in Yongin, South Korea, according to the Associated Press.
The action followed initial wage negotiation talks between the union and Samsung held on Friday, Bloomberg reported.
NSEU workers announced an indefinite strike on July 8 after a previous walkout failed to secure the workplace improvements its members demand.
Although the union represents over 30,000 employees, it remains unclear how many are participating in the indefinite strike. Nonetheless, the current strike is the largest in the technology company’s history.
Samsung anticipates its second-quarter revenue to rise more than 1,450% year-over-year due to an AI boom, and it reported a ten-fold increase in profits for the first three months of 2024. However, NSEU asserted that workers are not experiencing pay raises in line with these record returns.
Many striking workers are employed at Samsung’s foundry, which produces some of the most advanced computer chips globally, AFP reported.
Samsung is also known for its resistance to unions and has limited experience negotiating with its own employees, experts say.
“If Samsung workers succeed in this endeavor, it will empower the rest of South Korea’s labor movement,” said Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, to AFP.