A union at electronics conglomerate Samsung has warned it will strike from 8-10 July unless the company agrees to its demands for fairer working conditions. The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) said that the firm had failed to heed its call for reduced hours and more time off for its membership, a characterisation of ongoing negotiations with management that is disputed by the chipmaker and electronics giant. The union, which represents a fifth of Samsung’s workforce, added that it was prepared to strike for longer than its previous one-day walkout last month.
“We are declaring a general strike today,” proclaimed the NSEU’s president, Son Woo-mok. “Until our demands are met, we will fight with the ‘no pay, no work’ general strike.” The union’s demands include a 6.5% salary boost for its members, increased holiday allotment and more transparency from management around how staff bonuses are calculated. Samsung has not responded to Tech Monitor’s request for comment.
Samsung strike second in as many months
As well as being one of the world’s foremost manufacturers of smartphones, Samsung is also one of only three chipmakers capable of profitably manufacturing the most advanced semiconductors in the marketplace. The NSEU’s previous strike on 7 June primarily targeted this division, arguing that its profits – $1.4bn in the first quarter of this year – should be based on operating profit and not include the cost of capital. It was this formula, the union argues, that saw no bonuses paid to swathes of Samsung’s workforce last year.
That strike, the firm’s first in its history, was judged to be a success by the NSEU. “It is understood that many employees are participating,” Son told journalists last month. “It’s difficult to provide an exact number, but from what I’ve seen of the workplace attendance in the morning, there is a significant difference from the usual.”
For its part, Samsung denied that the industrial action affected its operations, with most members taking a day off as holiday to mark their displeasure with the powerful chaebol. “There is no impact on production and business activities,” the company said in a statement, a verdict partially supported by chip industry analysts who concluded that the strike would not lead to disruption in the supply of the firm’s DRAM or NAND Flash products.
Unions new to South Korean chipmaker and electronics giant
Samsung is terra nova for organised labour in South Korea. The firm successfully fought against the formation of any union within its ranks for almost half a century, with its founder Lee Byung-chul famously stating that he would never permit any such organisation to exist “until I have dirt over my eyes.”
This changed in the late 2010s with the formation of the NSEU in the wake of several corruption scandals at the company and the election of the liberal Moon administration. The prospect of more sustained industrial action has spooked some chip industry analysts, who point to the future strikes’ potential to erode Samsung’s status as a leading manufacturer of memory chips. Once the market leader, the South Korean electronics giant has since ceded that position to its erstwhile rival, SK Hynix.
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