Unionized employees at Samsung Electronics in South Korea have initiated an indefinite strike to push for increased wages and benefits. Following a three-day strike that started on Monday by members of the National Samsung Electronics Union, the union announced an indefinite strike on Wednesday, citing the company’s reluctance to engage in negotiations. Samsung Electronics confirmed that there have been no disruptions in production and stated its commitment to engaging in sincere discussions with the union to resolve the issues.
The union, on the other hand, declared on its website that it has caused disturbances on the company’s production lines to compel management to participate in negotiations. The union expressed confidence in its cause, without specifying the number of members participating in the extended strike. Previously, 6,540 union members had pledged to join the initial three-day strike, a small portion of Samsung Electronics’ global workforce, which totals around 267,860 employees, with approximately 120,000 of them based in South Korea.
Negotiations between the union and management on matters such as higher wages and improved working conditions had been ongoing earlier this year but had reached an impasse. In a rare move, some union members took a one-day leave collectively in June in what was considered the first labor strike at Samsung Electronics. The National Samsung Electronics Union, reportedly comprising around 30,000 Samsung workers, is the largest union within the company, with some employees belonging to smaller unions as well.
Samsung’s former vice chairman, Lee Jae-yong, expressed remorse in 2020 for alleged involvement in a major corruption scandal in 2016 and vowed to cease suppressing employee attempts to unionize. The company’s anti-union practices have drawn criticism from activists over the years, although labor strikes in various industries are not uncommon in South Korea. In a separate sector, thousands of medical interns and residents in South Korea have been on strike since February to protest against a government proposal to drastically increase medical school enrollments.
