Samsung's largest worker organization, the Samsung National Electronics Union, has announced it plans to strike next week as part of its fight for fair compensation. Members are threatening to miss work for one day, June 7, in hopes that the company will listen to their demands after wage negotiations in recent months have stalled. If it breaks through, BNN Bloomberg It says it will be the first strike by the company's employees since Samsung was founded. As Reuters Samsung has reportedly agreed to a 5.1 percent pay rise this year, but the union is also negotiating to add an extra day to workers' annual leave and for greater transparency when it comes to performance bonuses.
“What we want is not a 1 or 2 percent wage increase. What we want is to be paid fairly for the amount of work done,” union leaders said outside Samsung's offices in Seoul. “We want to be compensated for our work fairly and transparently.”
The Samsung National Electronics Union has 28,000 members, representing more than a fifth of the company's workforce. Union leaders don't expect the strike to have a significant impact on Samsung's production, since most of its manufacturing processes are automated anyway, but they still hope their strike can force the company to take them seriously. The union certainly has more bargaining power now; apparently, its membership technology/amid-chants-k-pop-samsung-union-stages-rare-rally-fair-wages-2024-05-24/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:grew four-fold;cpos:3;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>grew four times in the last two years after the company pledged to end its anti-union plans.
Samsung used to be known for cracking down on organized labor activities. In 2018, board chairman Lee Sang-hoon was accused of sabotaging legitimate labor activities by threatening to reduce the salaries of employees who join them, deliberately stalling negotiations between management and workers, and unearthing information about key union personnel to persuade them to cease their activities. Lee stepped down as chairman in 2020, the same year as Samsung CEO Jay Y. Lee. technology/amid-chants-k-pop-samsung-union-stages-rare-rally-fair-wages-2024-05-24/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:promised to end;cpos:6;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>promised to finish the company's anti-union practices.
The union said, however, that “there is no change in management's attitude” despite Lee's promise to eliminate non-union management. “We can no longer tolerate the company's lack of willingness to negotiate,” he added. If the company refuses to engage in meaningful talks, the union plans to hold more strikes in the future. A Samsung spokesperson said BNN Bloomberghowever, that “the company remains committed to engaging in good faith negotiations with the unions and is making every sincere effort to reach an agreement.”