Samsung Workers Strike for the First Time in the Company's 55-Year History

[Omaha Steve]

It was only four years ago that Samsung formally ended a long-standing no-union policy, enforced through surveillance and intimidation. Photo: NSEU

https://labornotes.org/2024/07/samsung-workers-strike-first-time-companys-55-year-history

The Korean electronics firm Samsung is the world’s biggest manufacturer of memory chips. It also usually outpaces Apple, its main rival, for the production of smartphones. Until a one-day strike last month, Samsung’s workers had never gone on strike throughout its 55-year history as a company, during a period that saw the rise of a strong labor movement in South Korea.

Yet after calling a three-day strike last week, on July 10 the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) decided to extend its strike indefinitely as the company continues to dodge negotiations over pay and holidays.

Founded in 2019, the NSEU represents about 25 percent of Samsung’s 125,000-strong South Korean workforce. The open-ended strike is the union’s latest attempt to step up pressure on the global tech giant, which has refused so far to engage in dialogue, citing the union’s lack of majority representation.

The union’s action appears to have strategic leverage over the company, since about 90 percent of NSEU members are employed in device solutions, which is the integral part of chip production. The union leadership has said the strike will gradually cripple chip production: so far, only about 6,500 workers have put down their tools.

FULL story at link above.