Employees at Samsung are engaged in a strike for improved working conditions and higher wages, culminating in a large rally in South Korea on Monday as their protests enter the third week.
Approximately 1,200 members of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) organized a march at the Giheung campus in Yongin, as reported by the Associated Press. This action followed initial negotiations over wages between the union and Samsung that took place last Friday, according to Bloomberg.
The NSEU declared an indefinite strike on July 8, after an earlier walkout failed to achieve the desired workplace improvements. Although the union has more than 30,000 members, it remains unclear how many are actively participating in the indefinite strike. Nonetheless, this is marked as the largest strike in Samsung’s history.
Despite Samsung’s expectations for a more than 1,450% increase in revenue year-over-year in the second quarter, driven by a surge in AI, and a tenfold profit increase reported for the first quarter of 2024, the NSEU argues that workers have yet to see similar increases in their compensation.
Many striking employees are part of Samsung’s foundry, which is responsible for producing some of the world’s most advanced computer chips. Experts also note that Samsung has a reputation for being unfriendly toward unions and lacks experience in negotiating with its workforce.
A professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, Vladimir Tikhonov, stated that if Samsung workers are successful, it could strengthen labor movements across South Korea.