The national union of Samsung Electronics will hold its first strike since the company’s founding on Friday. The workers are demanding a 6.5% increase in their salaries and a bonus linked to the company’s profits.
The union represents 28,000 workers in South Korea, which represents 20% of the workforce at Samsung Electronics.
In the strike at the world’s largest chip manufacturer, workers’ main demands included another day off and greater transparency in the distribution of performance bonuses.
Samsung Electronics is known for its opposition to unions and keeping them out of its operations. The company’s late founder, Lee Byung-chul, announced that he would not allow unionization at Samsung “until dust covers my eyes.”
In 2012, internal documents revealed that the company had instructed its managers to monitor employees deemed “problematic” for trying to form a union. The instructions included recommendations to fire key organizers before launching the union to avoid allegations of unfair labor practices.
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