Samsung Workers Union Will Hold Strike Action Demanding Wage Increase

Samsung faces the challenge of a strike. (photo: x @UnwireLife)

JAKARTA - The Samsung Electronics Workers Union (NSEU) in South Korea will start its first strike next week as part of efforts to increase demands for a wage increase. This was said by trade union officials on Wednesday, May 29.

NSEU, which has about 28,000 members or more than a fifth of the total workforce at Samsung, announced it would stop work for one day on June 7 as part of wider protest measures. The announcement was made by union officials in a live-streamed press conference, where they held banners that read: "We can no longer tolerate repression against workers and unions."

If union members collectively take a day off next week, it would be the first strike by Samsung workers in South Korea, the world's largest memory chip maker. Workers have intermittently participated in protests in recent weeks outside the company's offices in Seoul as well as at its chip production site in Hwaseong, south of Seoul.

Responding to the company's decision to increase wages this year by 5.1%, the union previously stated that it wanted an additional day of annual leave as well as transparent performance-based bonuses. On Wednesday, the union accused the tech giant of failing to bring a compromise plan to the table in negotiations held a day earlier.

Samsung Electronics said in a statement on Wednesday: "We will sincerely engage in discussions with the union."

Union officials defended the decision to take industrial action at a time when parts of Samsung's business were underperforming. "Companies have said they have faced crises throughout the last 10 years," Son Woo-mok, president of NSEU, told reporters. But he added that companies should not use this as an excuse not to meet their demands.

The union said all company sites across South Korea would be affected by the action on June 7. NSEU is the largest of five unions at the South Korean tech giant. It is unclear whether other smaller unions plan to join the action.

Responding to the planned strike on Wednesday, a coalition of five unions at Samsung affiliates, including other Samsung Electronics unions, questioned the intentions behind the planned strike. This shows that they will not join this action.

The coalition said in a statement that the planned strike appeared to be part of an effort to join a tougher umbrella union, rather than to improve conditions for workers at the tech companies.

The strike announcement comes as Samsung, one of the world's largest chip and smartphone makers, appears to be faltering in several areas, including cutting-edge semiconductor chips. Last week, Samsung replaced the head of its semiconductor unit, saying it needed a new person in the position to navigate the so-called "crisis" affecting the chip industry.

More than 2,000 workers belonging to the South Korean tech giant's union gathered in Seoul last week to hold a rare rally demanding a wage increase. Union membership increased rapidly after Samsung Electronics in 2020 pledged to end its practice of preventing the growth of organized labor.

Analysts say the increase in union membership reflects workers' frustration with Samsung's declining competitiveness in businesses such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips and because of legal problems facing the tech giant.

In one case, the company is facing an appeal from prosecutors over a ruling finding Samsung Electronics chairman Jay Y. Lee not guilty of fraud and other charges related to Samsung's 2015 corporate merger.

Shares of Samsung Electronics closed down 3.1% on Wednesday, compared with a 1.7% drop in the KOSPI index.