Samsung Electronics' union threatens first ever walkout next week
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[May 29, 2024] By
Heekyong Yang, Ju-min Park and Hyunsu Yim
SEOUL (Reuters) -A Samsung Electronics union in South Korea will begin
escalating strike action next week by staging the first ever walkout
over demands for higher wages, union officials said on Wednesday.
The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), which has about 28,000
members, or more than a fifth of the company's total workforce, said it
will stop work for one day on June 7 as part of broader protest
measures.
The announcement was made by union officials at a live-streamed press
conference, where they held a banner which read: "We can no longer
tolerate labour repression, union repression."
If the union members collectively take the day off next week, it would
mark the first ever walkout by South Korean workers at the world's top
memory chipmaker.
Workers have been intermittently participating in protests in recent
weeks outside the company's offices in the capital city Seoul as well as
outside its chip production site in Hwaseong, south of Seoul.
Responding to a decision by the company to increase wages this year by
5.1%, the union has previously said that it wanted an additional day of
annual leave as well as transparent performance-based bonuses.
On Wednesday, the union accused the tech giant of failing to bring a
compromise plan to negotiations held the previous day.
Samsung Electronics said in a statement on Wednesday: "We will sincerely
engage in discussions with the union."
Union officials defended the decision to take industrial action at a
time when some parts of Samsung's business are underperforming.
"The company has been saying they are facing crisis all along for the
past 10 year," Son Woo-mok, president of NSEU told reporters, but added
that the firm should not use it as an excuse not to meet its demands.
The union said all company sites across South Korea would be affected by
its June 7 action. NSEU is the biggest of five labour unions at South
Korea's tech giant. It is not clear whether other smaller unions plan to
join the action.
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The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) members hold banners
that read "Respect labour" in front of the Samsung Electronics
Seocho Building in Seoul, South Korea, May 24, 2024. REUTERS/Kim
Soo-hyeon/File Photo
Responding to Wednesday's proposed strike, a coalition of five
unions at Samsung affiliates including another Samsung Electronics
union questioned the intention behind the strike plan, indicating
they would not join the move.
The coalition said in a statement it appears to be part of efforts
to join a combative umbrella union, rather than to improve workers'
conditions at the tech company.
The strike announcement comes as Samsung, one of the world's biggest
chipmakers and smartphone makers, appears to be faltering in some
areas, including cutting-edge semiconductor chips.
Samsung last week replaced the head of its semiconductor unit saying
a new person at the top was needed to navigate what it called a
"crisis" affecting the chips industry.
More than 2,000 unionised workers of the South Korean technology
giant gathered in Seoul last week to hold a rare rally to demand
better wages.
Union membership has increased rapidly after Samsung Electronics in
2020 pledged to put an end to its practices of discouraging the
growth of organised labour.
Analysts said the rise in union membership reflects workers'
frustration with a recent slump in Samsung's competitiveness in
businesses such as high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips and due to
legal issues facing the tech giant.
In one case the company is battling a prosecution appeal of a
decision that found Samsung Electronics' chairman Jay Y. Lee not
guilty of fraud and other charges related to a 2015 merger of
Samsung companies.
Shares of Samsung Electronics closed down 3.1% on Wednesday,
compared with the benchmark KOSPI's 1.7% fall.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim, Heekyong Yang and Ju-min Park; Editing by
Ed Davies, Shri Navaratnam and Sonali Paul)
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