Workers Are Demanding a Share of Samsung’s AI Windfall
A last-minute deal headed off a planned strike at Samsung, the Korean electronics giant. The unions have shown that a sustained campaign backed up by the willingness to strike can extract concessions, even from one of the world’s most powerful firms.
Samsung Electronics Co. workers chant slogans during a rally outside the company's semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. (SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A planned strike at Samsung this month would have been the biggest industrial action in a South Korean workplace since the heyday of labor militancy in the 1980s, involving more than 47,000 workers.
It would almost certainly have been the biggest work stoppage in the history of the global semiconductor industry, where high pay and generous benefits often foster a sense of privilege and prestige among the majority of workers, despite their experience of chemically drenched working conditions, cutthroat competition, and long, risky working hours.
On May 21, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and two unions at the world’s leading memory-chip maker reached a tentative wage agreement, ending six months of contentious negotiations and heading off the prospect of strike action the following day.
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