Samsung Electronics’ biggest workers’ union in South Korea said on Wednesday it will continue a strike indefinitely, stepping up its campaign against the tech giant for better pay and benefits.
The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), whose roughly 30,000 members make up almost a quarter of the company’s South Korean workforce, said it has decided to indefinitely extend the strike that started on Monday because management had shown no indication of holding talks.
The strike was initially planned to last three days till Wednesday.
It adds to challenges for the world’s biggest memory chipmaker which is struggling to navigate competition in semiconductors used for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Union officials said 6,500 workers had participated in the strike, and they urged more members to join.
“It is time that we need power and help from our fellow members,” Lee Hyun-kuk, the union’s vice-president, said in a YouTube live broadcast.
“Really our objective is to stop (chip production) lines,” he said.
Lee told Reuters the strike had disrupted production on certain chip lines, with equipment running more slowly.
Samsung said the strike had caused no disruption during the first three days.
“Samsung Electronics will ensure no disruptions occur in the production lines. The company remains committed to engaging in good faith negotiations with the union,” it said in a statement.
Samsung’s share price closed up 0.1 per cent on Wednesday, while the benchmark KOSPI index was little changed.
Ad campaign
To boost participation, the union said it plans to hold advertising campaigns at cafeterias inside chipmaking plants producing 8-inch wafers and high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that are in high demand for use in AI processors.
Union officials have disputed media reports of low participation, telling Reuters that the five-year-old body did not have enough time to educate members about the labour issues.
The union held training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The officials also said a former union leader at Hyundai Motor was sharing history and experience of their strikes.
Reuters
