For the first time since its founding in 1969, Samsung Electronics’ union will launch strike action

According to news from this site on April 9, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics has ushered in a possible historic moment - the company’s employees will go on strike for the first time.

In 2024, five unions under Samsung Electronics that participated in wage and benefit negotiations conducted a strike vote on members from the 18th of last month to the 5th of this month. After voting, 74% of union members supported the strike. As wage negotiations between labor and management broke down in February, South Korea's National Labor Relations Board decided to suspend mediation, which also gave the union legally the right to dispute.

The union has sent letters to Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman Han Jung-hee and President Qing Guixian and other company executives to notify them of the strike. This will be the first strike by a union since Samsung Electronics was founded in 1969.

This site noticed that after negotiating with the Labor-Management Council on wage adjustments in February, Samsung Electronics decided on April 29 to raise the average wage this year to 5.1%, an increase of 1.0 percentage points. That's up from 4.1% last year. This figure includes a 3.0% base salary increase and a 2.1% performance bonus increase. The labor-management conference is an organization where employer members representing the company and worker members representing employees participate to discuss wages and other working conditions.

Samsung Electronics sets wage growth rates through labor negotiations every year, which is a separate process from union negotiations. However, the National Samsung Electronics Union strongly opposes the salary increase agreement reached by the Labor Bargaining Council and insists on its existing demands, including a 6.5% salary increase and a 200% special performance bonus.

The Samsung Electronics Union has five major branches across the country, among which the Samsung Electronics General Union, the main bargaining union, has the largest number of members. Since dissatisfaction over performance bonuses sparked at the end of last year, the number of union members has soared to more than 25,000, accounting for about 20% of Samsung Electronics' total workforce of 124,000 people. In order to safeguard the rights and interests of employees, Samsung Electronics' labor union continues to strive for better treatment.

Samsung Electronics’ operating profit in the first quarter of this year was 660 million won, 10 times that of the same period last year. Industry insiders are worried that if the industrial crisis does occur, it may become a variable that affects the speed of Samsung Electronics' profit recovery.

According to reports, the Samsung Electronics union applied for dispute mediation when wage negotiations broke down in 2022 and 2023 and obtained the right to dispute, but ultimately did not take action. Since its establishment in 1969, Samsung Electronics has never had a strike.

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