Photo: Jung Yeon-je Agence France-Presse Samsung Electronics is the flagship of the giant Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family-owned conglomerates that dominate South Korea.
Published yesterday at 11:28 p.m.
- Asia
A major union at Samsung Electronics called the first strike in the history of the South Korean semiconductor and consumer electronics giant on Wednesday.
“We can no longer stand the persecution of unions. We are declaring a strike over the company's negligence towards workers,” the Samsung Electronics National Union said at a press conference.
“We tried to resolve the problem through dialogue,” said the union, which represents about 20 percent of the group’s workforce, or about 28,000 people. He also accused management of “company interference in the peaceful struggle we have waged so far.”
Samsung Electronics is the flagship of giant Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family conglomerates that dominate Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Management and the union have been holding negotiations on wages since January, without being able to overcome their differences.
This strike will be the very first in the history of the group, one of the world's largest manufacturers of smartphones and one of the few producers of high value-added memories used for generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Samsung Electronics almost tenfolded its operating profit in the first quarter of 2024, thanks precisely to strong sales of these advanced AI products.
Manufacturers South Korean chip companies, led by Samsung, have posted record profits in recent years as the prices of their products soared.
The slowing economy subsequently dealt a blow to semiconductor sales, but these are expected to rebound 11.8% this year, according to industry observatory World Semiconductor Trade Statistics.