Samsung employees striking for improved working conditions and enhanced pay held a large rally in South Korea on Monday, as their protest enters its third week.
Approximately 1,200 members of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) gathered and marched at the Giheung campus in Yongin, according to reports. This demonstration followed initial wage negotiation talks between the union and Samsung on Friday.
The NSEU workers initiated an indefinite strike on July 8 after a prior walkout did not yield the workplace improvements their members sought. Although the union represents over 30,000 employees, it remains unclear how many are participating in the ongoing indefinite strike. Nonetheless, this strike is already marked as the largest in the company’s history.
Despite Samsung projecting a more than 1,450% year-over-year increase in second-quarter revenue, driven by an AI boom, and reporting a tenfold profit increase for the first quarter of 2024, the NSEU claims workers are not benefiting from these record earnings.
A significant number of those participating in the strike are employed at Samsung’s foundry, where they produce some of the world’s most advanced computer chips.
Experts also note that Samsung has a history of being resistant to unions and lacks extensive experience in negotiating with its workforce. A professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, Vladimir Tikhonov, stated, “If Samsung workers succeed in this undertaking, it will empower the rest of South Korea’s labor.”