A union representing tens of thousands of workers at South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co yesterday said it would hold a three-day strike later this month after negotiations failed.
“Starting from July 8, we will stage a three-day general strike,” National Samsung Electronics Union vice president Lee Hyun-kuk said.
The union announced the strike late on Monday in a live YouTube broadcast, without providing the dates.
Photo: Bloomberg
The move follows a one-day walkout last month, the first such collective action at the company, which went decades without unionization.
Management at the company, the world’s biggest producer of memory chips, has been locked in negotiations with the union since January.
Workers have rejected the offer of a 5.1 percent pay hike, with the union having previously outlined demands including improvements to annual leave and transparent performance-based bonuses.
In calling for the strike, the union said that “management created this state” by failing to offer significant concessions.
“What will change if we do not act? Will you just watch and do nothing? Will you be a hidden slave or an active owner? Nothing will change if we do not act,” its statement said.
“All employees need to participate in the strike. Let’s step up and change it,” it said.
Samsung declined a request for comment.
Samsung Electronics avoided its employees unionizing for almost 50 years — sometimes adopting ferocious tactics, according to critics — while rising to become the world’s largest smartphone and semiconductor manufacturer.
Company founder Lee Byung-chul, who died in 1987, was adamantly opposed to unions, saying that he would never allow them “until I have dirt over my eyes.”
The first labor union at Samsung Electronics was formed in the late 2010s.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
RSS