2024-07-10 08:03:24
After decades without union within the industry, the move could be a landmark one. A union representing thousands of workers at South Korean giant Samsung Electronics announced Wednesday that it will “indefinitely” call a three-day strike in order to force management to negotiate. It is considered a “clear disruption to production”, which the company disputes.
“(We) announced an indefinite general strike starting on July 10, after learning that management does not want to negotiate following the first general strike,” the national union of Samsung Electronics said in a statement. The company, the flagship subsidiary of the Samsung Group, is one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world and one of the few producers of high-value memory cards used for artificial intelligence.
Management “will bring up the knees”, union bets
More than 5,000 workers walked off the job Monday in what is expected to be a three-day strike after lengthy negotiations over wages and benefits failed. The move follows a one-day walkout in June, the first such industrial action in the industry, which has gone without a union for decades. Samsung Electronics’ national team now has more than 30,000 members, more than a fifth of the company’s total workforce.
The union has been negotiating with management since January, but the two sides have failed to reach an agreement. Workers have rejected the offer of a 5.1% wage increase, while the union is also asking for an improvement in annual leave and transparency of performance-based bonuses.
Samsung told AFP on Wednesday that the strike would not affect production. “Samsung Electronics will ensure that there are no disruptions on the production lines,” a spokesman told AFP. “The company is still in good faith negotiations with the union.” But the union confirmed the “obvious disruption to production” and added that the longer the strike, “the more management will suffer”. “Eventually he will get down on his knees and sit down at the negotiating table. We are confident of victory,” he added.
Almost 50 years without any union
The union criticized Samsung management for “obstructing” the strike, saying it did not appear willing to engage in dialogue. “Your decision is essential to advance our goals and our victory. Let’s join forces to defend our rights and create a better future,” he stressed, calling on workers to join the party, especially “those who still doubt”.
The impact of the strike “depends on several factors, (such as) the duration of the strike, the production days lost and the loss recovery process”, Neil Shah, vice president of Counterpoint, told AFP Research. According to him, it is also important to know “how the management of Samsung is prepared knowing that this can happen and already (anticipated) by simulating solutions to solve this problem quickly.”
Until then, the company had prevented the union of its workers for 50 years, sometimes using violent means, according to its detractors. The company’s founder, Lee Byung-chul, who died in 1987, strongly opposed unions, saying he would not allow them “until I get the dust off my face.” Samsung Electronics’ first union was finally formed in the late 2010s.
The big strike announcement comes as Samsung Electronics said last week it expects a 15-fold increase in its second-quarter operating profit thanks to a rebound in chip prices and increased demand for its used products. for artificial intelligence. These chips are South Korea’s top export and earned the country $11.7 billion in March, the highest level in nearly two years. This represents a fifth of the country’s exports.
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