Samsung’s main union in South Korea to go on strike indefinitely

Samsung Electronics’ largest labor union in South Korea said Wednesday that it will continue its strike indefinitely as it presses the tech giant to increase pay and benefits for its workers.

The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) has about 30,000 members who comprise about one-fourth of Samsung’s South Korean workforce. The union decided to extend its strike, which began on Monday, indefinitely because management hadn’t shown any indication of holding talks.

The union initially planned for the strike to last three days through Wednesday and its continuation raises new challenges for the company.

Samsung, the world’s largest memory chipmaker, has struggled to navigate the rising competition for semiconductors used to train artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

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Samsung has said it will ensure the strike doesn’t impact its chip production lines. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Union officials said that about 6,500 workers had participated in the strike and called for more members to join the labor stoppage.

“It is time that we need power and help from our fellow members,” Lee Hyun-kuk, the union’s vice president, said in a YouTube live broadcast. “Really our objective is to stop (chip production) lines.”

Samsung said the strike hadn’t caused any disruption to its chip production processes during the first three days of the strike.

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The NSEU is seeking 3.5% pay raises and a day off to mark the union’s founding instead of an extra day of annual leave. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Samsung Electronics will ensure no disruptions occur in the production lines. The company remains committed to engaging in good faith negotiations with the union,” Samsung told FOX Business in a statement.

Analysts said it would be difficult to verify whether the strike has disrupted Samsung’s chip production unless the union announces details about what wafers and processes were impacted by its labor action.

The union said it plans to hold advertising campaigns at cafeterias in Samsung’s chipmaking plants responsible for producing 8-inch wafers and high bandwidth memory chips that are in high demand for use in AI processors.

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Analysts are unsure whether the strike will impact Samsung’s production of memory chips used in electronic devices and to train AI models. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Union officials disputed media reports of low participation in the strike and told Reuters that the five-year-old labor group didn’t have enough time to educate its members about the labor issues, and held training sessions on Tuesday and…