Members of the Samsung Electronics Nationwide Union rally throughout an indication as they start a three-day common strike outdoors Samsung Electronics’ Hwaseong campus in Hwaseong, South Korea, Monday, July 8, 2024. (Hong Ki-won/Yonhap through AP) | Picture credit score: AP
A union of staff at tech big Samsung Electronics in South Korea mentioned Wednesday it should proceed to strike indefinitely, stepping up its marketing campaign for higher pay and advantages.
The Nationwide Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), whose roughly 30,000 members account for practically 1 / 4 of the corporate’s workforce in South Korea, mentioned it determined to proceed the strike as a result of administration has proven no indicators of holding talks following a walkout that started on Monday.
“We’ve not talked to administration since we began the strike on Monday,” mentioned Lee Hyun-kuk, vp of the union.
The union mentioned it could prolong the strike initially deliberate for 3 days till Wednesday. Lee informed Reuters the union discovered its strike had disrupted manufacturing on sure chip strains, corresponding to with gear working slower.
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Samsung had beforehand mentioned the strike had not prompted any disruptions to manufacturing. The corporate didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.
The union is turning into extra vocal and searching for to be handled as an equal associate, including to the challenges of the world’s largest reminiscence chipmaker because it struggles to navigate competitors in chips used for synthetic intelligence (AI) purposes.
Lee mentioned about 6,500 staff have been collaborating within the strike and the union will encourage extra members to affix.
Union leaders have denied experiences of low participation, telling Reuters that the five-year-old physique had not had sufficient time to coach members on labour points. The union held a coaching session on Tuesday and can maintain one other on Wednesday.
Analysts mentioned it could be troublesome to confirm whether or not the strike had disrupted manufacturing except the union offered particulars about wafers and processes.
The union mentioned it had revised its calls for to incorporate a 3.5% improve in base pay and, as an alternative of an additional day of annual go away, a day without work to commemorate the union’s founding. Lee mentioned administration had beforehand provided a 3% improve in base pay, however the union needs 3.5% to higher replicate inflation.
Samsung’s share worth fell 0.1% versus a 0.2% drop within the benchmark KOSPI index as of 0139 GMT.
