A major union representing tens of thousands of employees at Samsung Electronics announced on Wednesday that workers will strike for the first time, posing a potential threat to global semiconductor supply chains.
The strike, set for June 7, involves union members comprising around 20% of the company’s workforce, or approximately 28,000 people.
Union members plan to use annual leave for a one-day strike, but a general strike could occur in the future if demands are not met. Negotiations over wages between Samsung management and the union have been ongoing since January but have failed to yield an agreement.
“We are declaring a strike in the face of the company’s neglect of laborers,” a National Samsung Electronics Union spokesperson stated during a live-streamed news conference.
The union president, Son Woo-mok, indicated that while the union had accepted the company’s proposed pay raise, it also demanded an additional holiday and a transparent system for measuring performance bonuses based on sales profit.
Samsung, the world’s largest producer of memory chips, has maintained that it will continue dialogue with the union. A Samsung official reiterated, “Samsung will keep in dialogue with the labor union going forward as it has been.”
The strike marks a significant moment for Samsung Electronics, which has historically avoided unionization. For nearly 50 years, Samsung’s management resisted union formation through various means, with founder Lee Byung-Chul famously opposing unions.
However, the landscape shifted in 2019 when a union was successfully established during the presidency of Moon Jae-in, a former rights lawyer and trade union advocate.
The current strike could severely impact Samsung Electronics, particularly given its crucial role in the semiconductor industry. Samsung is a leading global producer of high-end memory chips, which are essential for technologies such as generative AI and high-performance hardware from companies like Nvidia.
Kim Dae-jong, a business professor at Sejong University, commented on the potential impact, stating, “Having 20% of its workforce on strike will significantly impact the company as a whole, especially at a time when it needs to act quickly in the ever-evolving semiconductor industry.”
Unlike Hyundai Motor, which has experience managing annual strikes, Samsung’s management is unaccustomed to handling such labor actions.
