The electronics manufacturer

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEC; stylized as SΛMSUNG; ) is a South Korean multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation founded on 13 January 1969 and headquartered in Yeongtong District, Suwon, South Korea. It is curr ...

has assembly plants and sales networks in 74 countries and employs more than 270,000 workers. Samsung employees in South Korea went on a one-day

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

on 7 June 2024. The strike was extended from 8 July to 1 August. It was the first employee led strike in the

Samsung Group Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous affiliated businesses, most of which operate unde ...

. Workers in India went on strike since September 2024 for union recognition. Samsung Group historically has a no-union policy and has been engaged in

union-busting Union busting is a range of activities undertaken to disrupt or weaken the power of trade unions or their attempts to grow their membership in a workplace. Union busting tactics can refer to both legal and illegal activities, and can range anywhe ...

activities around the world, including setting up management unions, surveilling workers and retaliating against workers who try to unionize.

India

1,500 production workers in

Sriperumbudur Sriperumbudur, also known as Thiruperumbudur, is a Municipality and the headquarters of Sriperumbudur taluk located in Kanchipuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located 40 kilometers southwest of the capital city of Chennai ...

plant near

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

of Samsung Electronics have been on indefinite

. It is one of two smaller plants in India, established in 2007, employing 1,800 workers. The strikers are part of a newly formed union Samsung India Labour Welfare Union, supported by the left wing

Centre of Indian Trade Unions The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) is a national level trade union in India. It is associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). It has presence mostly in the Indian state of Tripura, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnatak ...

. The strike demands are union recognition, avoid recognizing competing unions and collective bargaining rights. 104 workers were briefly arrested for taking part in an unregistered

protest march A political demonstration is an action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause or people partaking in a protest against a cause of concern; it often consists of walking in a mass march formati ...

South Korea

has been

unionized A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

since 2021, and its subsidiary Samsung Electronics Service since 2014.

Samsung Electronics Service

Samsung Electronics Service is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics and relies on in-house

subcontractor A subcontractor is a person or business which undertakes to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract, and a subcontract is a contract which assigns part of an existing contract to a subcontractor. A general contractor, prime ...

firms that are de facto owned by Samsung. In July 2013, the Samsung Electronics Service Workers was created. It is affiliated to the Korean Metal Workers' Union which is part of

IndustriALL Global Union IndustriALL Global Union is a global union federation, founded in Copenhagen on 19 June 2012. IndustriALL Global Union represents more than 50 million working people in more than 140 countries, working across the supply chains in mining, energy a ...

. Yeom Ho-seok, a worker and

Yangsan Yangsan (; ) is a city in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, South Korea. It borders Ulsan to the northeast, Gijang-gun and Geumjeong District in Busan to the southeast, Gimhae to the southwest, and Miryang to the northwest. City Hall is located in Nam ...

union branch leader committed suicide in his car on 17 May 2014; the second Samsung worker to do so. He left a note: On 17 May, Yeom's father transferred legal custody of Yeom's body to the union, per his son's dying wish. The next day, the father changed his mind and police snatched Yeom's corpse from the hospital, arresting 20 union members in the process. The last time a corpse was taken by police was in 1991 after a similar worker suicide protest. Initially, Samsung Electronics claimed no responsibility for its subcontractors, but after series of strikes including suicide starting in January 2014, the union reached a basic collective agreement in June 2014.

Samsung Electronics

In August 2021, Samsung Electronics signed a

collective agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with a ...

with 4 different trade unions. This happened after Samsung vice chairman

Lee Jae-yong Lee Jae-yong (; born June 23, 1968) is a South Korean business executive who has served as the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics since October 2022. He is the only son of Lee Kun-hee and Hong Ra-hee. As of December 2024, Lee has an e ...

was released from prison for corruption including union busting. A year prior in May 2020, Lee Jae-yong apologized for Samsung's union-busting. There are 5 trade unions active at Samsung Electronics as of August 2024; * Office Workers' Union * Gumi Network Union * National Samsung Electronics Union (; represents 28,000 workers or a quarter of total workforce) * Donghaeng Union * DX (Device Experience) Union Samsung Electronics employees went on a one-day

on 7 June 2024. It was the first time employees in the Samsung Group went on strike. The strike was led by the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) and is the largest of 5 trade unions at Samsung. 6,500 workers went on a strike on 8 July 2024, which was initially planned to be for three days but was converted into an indefinite strike due to lack of response from management. The strike ended on 1 August, under institutional pressure and falling numbers, though the union said it intended to continue fighting for its demands with other tactics. NSEU had representative bargaining rights on behalf of all 5 unions until 5 August 2024, when the collective agreement expires. Other trade unions would be eligible to petition for representative bargaining rights on behalf of all trade unions. Donghaeng Union indicated they will compete with NSEU for this right. Son Woo-mok, the chair of NSEU in August, announced they will merge into Office Workers' Union on 5 October in order to consolidate their strength. After ending the strike on 5 August, NSEU announced it will shift strategies to "

guerilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrorism ...

" strikes. The staggered strikes returned on the anniversary of

Liberation Day Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day, but differing from it because it does not involve the original creation of statehood. It commemorates the end of an occupation ...

, 15 August through 18 August. The workers are demanding a 5.6% wage increase, holiday on union anniversary and compensation for lost wages during the strikes, while management is offering a 5.1% increase.

References

External

National Samsung Electronics Union
(Official website in Korean) {{Multinational unions Samsung Electronics Tech sector trade unions

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

* Labour disputes in South Korea Strikes in Asia July 2024 in South Korea