First Union Strike in Samsung’s History
Samsung saw its first ever strike in its existence of over half a century on the 7th of June. This comes as a sharp blow followed by them losing the top spot of chip manufacturing to SK Hynix in light of more demand for next generation high bandwidth chips for the rising demand of AI powered devices. The union averse history of Samsung is likely coming to an end with Lee Hyun Kuk the president of NSEU (National Samsung Electronics Union) assuring this is a soft launch to further protests if their demands of a fair bonus is not met. NSEU has over 28000 members and according to its President more than 75% of the members were in support of the walkout.
Last year (2023) was the worst performing year for Samsung financially in a long time. The beginning of the last financial year saw a tremendous profit of $1.4 billion from its chip division followed by 4 straight quarters of losses making the overall year their worst performing in quite some time. A dip in financial performance directly impacted the worker bonuses which ultimately led to this historical walkout. Although, the union was mindful of organizing the walkout on a day sandwiched between a holiday and a weekend meaning most employees were by default on leave that day thereby minimizing the impact on production.
Samsung accounts for 20% of South Korea’s GDP making this an important step towards creating an environment where the workers voice has a place inside Samsung and thus South Korea as a whole.
