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Samsung workers in South Korea threaten AI boom with a mass strike Unions point out that Samsung grabbed operating profits of nearly £25 billion last year. They demand that it allocates 15 percent of its profits to an employee bonus scheme and make the change permanent by writing it into workers’ contracts. And they insist they have the power to force the company’s hand. Union strength across Samsung divisions has ballooned recently. One of the unions at the firm has grown from just 6,000 members last September to 75,000 today. Together with the other main union in the dispute, the National Samsung Electronics Union, they have a combined 90,000 members. Samsung employs around 120,000 people in total, with some 70,000 working in semiconductors. Workers’ Solidarity, Socialist Worker’s sister newspaper in Korea, recently reported on a 40,000-strong Samsung union rally. Throngs of young workers greeted each other enthusiastically, saying, “You came too!” It quoted a worker from the giant Samsung Hwaseong campus, which produces advanced AI chips. They said, “Our department usually doesn’t step up for things like this, but this time is different. There is a vibe this time where young workers are rising from the bottom up.” Union leader Choi Seung-ho attacked government ministers who have said the planned strike is a threat to Samsung and “the nation”. “This year’s operating profit exceeds 300 trillion won, which amounts to approximately 1 trillion won per day,” he said. “If we halt operations for the 18 days of strike, it will create a gap of nearly 18 trillion won. “We must show the management that the numbers they trust so deeply come from our own hands.” A trillion won is about half a billion pounds. That point was not lost on the bosses. The union rally alone cost Samsung 58 percent of its semiconductor production for the day. Samsung bosses and their friends in government and the right wing press hope that a court injunction against the strike issued on Monday will derail the union. A relieved report in the Financial Times newspaper says the court’s decision will “significantly weaken the scope of the strike and the negotiating power of the unions.” “Samsung’s chip production is therefore unlikely to be disrupted significantly.” The government is also manoeuvring to force the union into compulsory arbitration. It assumes that workers and their unions will accept the authority of the government and the courts. But the workers have the power not only to defy the judges and the government but also to humiliate the greedy Samsung bosses. Now they must use it. https://socialistworker.co.uk/international/samsung-workers-in-south-korea-threaten-ai-boom-with-a-mass-strike/ https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/21/tech/south-korea-samsung-strike-intl-hnk Back With thanks to Workers’ Solidarity, our sister paper in South Korea. |
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