Samsung Workers Begin Three-Day Strike Over Pay

AFP/APP

Hwaseong: Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker, saw thousands of workers begin a three-day general strike on Monday over pay and benefits.

The strike, which could impact memory chip production, involves thousands of employees wearing rain jackets and ribbons stating “fight with solidarity” outside the company’s foundry and semiconductor factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, an hour south of Seoul.

The National Samsung Electronics Union, which represents tens of thousands of employees, has been in negotiations with Samsung management since January.

The talks have stalled over disagreements on benefits and a rejected 5.1 percent pay raise offer from the company.

“The strike has started from today,” Son Woo-mok, head of the National Samsung Electronics Union, told AFP.He urged workers to “not come to work until July 10th and do not receive any business calls.” Approximately 5,200 workers from factory facility, manufacturing, and development joined the protest.

The union, which includes more than 30,000 members—over a fifth of Samsung’s total workforce—announced the strike last week after talks broke down.

This action follows a one-day walkout in June, marking the first collective action at the company, which avoided unionization for decades.

“We are now at critical crossroads,” the union said in an appeal last week, urging members to support the strike. Workers previously rejected the 5.1 percent pay hike offered in March, demanding improvements to annual leave and transparent performance-based bonuses.

Samsung Electronics has not commented on the strike. Business professor Kim Dae-jong at Sejong University warned that the strike, which includes workers from chip assembly lines, could pose a significant risk to Samsung’s competitive position in the chip market if the gridlock continues.

Samsung Electronics, which went nearly 50 years without unionization, saw its first labor union form in the late 2010s.

The company is the flagship subsidiary of Samsung Group, South Korea’s largest family-controlled conglomerate.

Despite the ongoing labor dispute, Samsung recently predicted a 15-fold increase in its on-year second-quarter operating profits due to growing demand for generative AI.

Semiconductors, crucial to the global economy, are South Korea’s leading export, with a notable rise in demand driven by AI systems like ChatGPT. In March, semiconductor exports hit $11.7 billion, their highest level in nearly two years, accounting for a fifth of South Korea’s total exports.