Employees of Samsung Electronics have organized a significant rally in South Korea to demand improved working conditions and higher wages, as their strike against the company enters its third week. Approximately 1,200 members of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) participated in the demonstration at the Giheung campus in Yongin.
This rally followed preliminary wage negotiation discussions held between the union and Samsung on Friday. The NSEU had declared an indefinite strike starting July 8 after earlier walkouts did not yield the desired improvements for its members.
While the union represents over 30,000 employees, the precise number actively participating in the indefinite strike remains unclear. Nonetheless, this ongoing strike is noted to be the largest in the history of the technology giant.
Despite Samsung projecting a dramatic rise in second-quarter revenue due to the AI boom and reporting a tenfold increase in profits for the first quarter of 2024, the NSEU claims that workers are not benefiting from these record earnings in terms of wage increases.
Many of the striking workers are involved in Samsung’s foundry operations, where they manufacture some of the world’s most advanced computer chips. Experts note that Samsung has a reputation for being unfriendly towards unions and lacks substantial experience in negotiating with its workforce. A professor of Korean studies remarked that if Samsung workers are successful in their demands, it could bolster the labor movement across South Korea.