According to the head of a significant union that represents tens of thousands of workers, employees at South Korea’s largest tech business, Samsung Electronics, went on strike for the first time on Friday.
One of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world, Samsung Electronics is also one of the few in the world to manufacture premium memory chips for generative AI, including top-tier AI hardware from Nvidia and other leading manufacturers.
Since January, the union and management of the company, which makes the most memory chips in the world, have been embroiled in salary negotiations, but neither party has been able to come to a compromise.
“The first strike at Samsung Electronics is taking place today through the use of paid leave, and it is understood that many employees are participating,” Son Woo-mok, head of the National Samsung Electronics Union said.
“It’s difficult to provide an exact number, but from what I’ve seen of the workplace attendance in the morning, there is a significant difference from the usual,” he added.
Samsung Electronics said it has been “diligently engaging in negotiations with the union and will continue to do so”.
“There is no impact on production and business activities. The paid leave usage rate on June 7 is lower than that of June 5 last year,” which, like Friday, was sandwiched between a public holiday and a weekend, the company said in a statement.
The staff of the IT company have embarked on their first walkout, a strike in South Korea.
On Friday, a group of about ten laborers demonstrated in front of Samsung’s main Seoul office, shouting, “Respect labor! We do not desire a 200 percent bonus or a rise of 6.5 percent!”
As the principal company of the enormous South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group, which is by far the biggest of the family-run businesses that rule the fourth-biggest economy in Asia, is Samsung Electronics.
Its stock fell 0.13 percent during Seoul afternoon session.
According to Taiwan-based market research firm TrendForce, there won’t be any shortages of shipments or effects on the production of DRAM and NAND Flash due to the strike.
Although staff at Samsung’s offices, not those working on the production lines, are striking, TrendForce reported. Samsung produces a large portion of the high-end semiconductors produced worldwide.
Furthermore, since the strike is only scheduled for one day and coincides with a well-planned holiday season in South Korea, the business had already made adjustments to its projected workforce numbers.
Lastly, factories use little human labor and mainly rely on computerized production. Thus, the strike won’t significantly affect the availability of memory in the future, according to an analysis from TrendForce.
