For the first time, workers at Samsung, the conglomerate that dominates the South Korean economy, went on strike on Friday.

The action comes as Samsung Electronics fights to regain its edge in the business of making memory chips, a critical component in the advanced artificial intelligence systems that are reshaping long-standing rivalries among global technology companies.

Workers in Samsung’s chip division were expected to make up the majority of those who will not report to work Friday for a planned one-day strike. Union representatives said that multiple rounds of negotiations over wage increases and bonuses had broken down.

“The company doesn’t value the union as a negotiating partner,” said Lee Hyun Kuk, vice president of the Nationwide Samsung Electronics Union, the largest among five labour groups at the company. It says it represents 28,000 members, about one-fifth of Samsung’s global workforce, and that nearly 75 per cent voted in favour of a strike in April.

A Samsung Electronics representative said the company was trying to reach an agreement with the union but declined to comment further on the details of the talks.

The work stoppage had not affected Samsung’s production or business activities, the company representative said. It was timed to fall between a national holiday and the weekend, on a day that many people in South Korea planned to take a vacation.

New York Times News Service