Samsung Electronics Co. workers chant slogans during a protest outside the companys semiconductor plant in Hwaseong, South Korea, on July 8. Executives from Korea’s largest company will meet with union leaders on Friday to discuss a framework and schedule for wage negotiations, according to Samsung and union representatives.
The string of walkouts and protests this month marked the biggest and most widespread labor protests in Samsung’s half-century history. Samsung’s largest union, comprising more than 30,000 members, called on employees to walk off the job at an advanced AI memory chip plant alongside other factories around Seoul, switching tactics after a campaign for higher pay showed signs of losing steam.
Thousands joined an initial rally but it’s unclear how many staff in total responded to the union’s call for a strike. The concern is that prolonged labor action may snowball and hurt the country’s best-known corporation, or trigger similar responses across a recovering tech and chip industry.