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Unionized workers of Samsung Electronics stage walkout over wages

June 7, 2024

Unionized workers of Samsung Electronics Co. went on a one-day strike Friday over wages, marking the first labor walkout at the technology giant.

Members of the 28,000-strong National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) collectively took the day off, but some analysts expected the labor action to have no major impact on production.

The NSEU is the largest labor union at Samsung Electronics, representing 22 percent of its total workforce.

The union did not disclose the number of workers joining the walkout, saying it wanted to leave the decision to participate to members’ voluntary will.

“Coordinated use of vacation is our first step in moving toward our ultimate goal of a general strike,” Lee Hyun-guk, deputy chief of the NSEU, said, adding that other kinds of strikes are being planned.

Market researcher TrendForce said the one-day leave is not expected to cause disruptions in Samsung’s production of DRAM and NAND flash memories as Friday is a weekday between a holiday on Thursday and the weekend, and Samsung’s semiconductor fabs have a high automation rate.

Unionized workers of Samsung Electronics Co. hold a press conference in front of the company's office in southern Seoul on May 29, 2024. (Yonhap)
Unionized workers of Samsung Electronics Co. hold a press conference in front of the company’s office in southern Seoul on May 29, 2024. (Yonhap)