Indefinite strike at Samsung, the first in 55 years

Protesting are workers who belong to the main union, which associates a quarter of the 125,000 employees. They are demanding wage increases, but also improvements on holidays and leave. No response so far from the company, which plays down the impact. Meanwhile, there is also a clash in Seoul over the minimum wage, which employers would like to see remain firm despite inflation.

Seoul (AsiaNews) - Unprecedented in the 55-year history of the company involved, the strike that has been affecting Samsung Electronics for three days has been extended indefinitely. The action has so far involved part of the more than 30,000 workers who are members of the company's main national union, which associates a quarter of the total 125,000 employees.

The protest - which started on Monday with a rally in torrential rain in front of the gates of the company's headquarters in the city of Hwaseong, south of the Seoul metropolitan area - has on its plate demands for salary improvements but also leave, holidays and incentives calibrated to the company's accounts. Claims to which, in the face of the company's silence, the question of relations between the workers and the company has also been added.

The demands have so far fallen on deaf ears despite negotiations that have been ongoing for some time. The unionised workers last month had even taken their annual leave en masse to show their determination after - having failed mediation - the National Arbitration Commission itself had given the go-ahead for a referendum among the workers on the possibility of going on strike.

In addition to denouncing that 'the company's plan does not consider the workers on the same level as it does and still treats them as disposable objects', the union said it held the company responsible for resorting to strike action and for any damage that might result.

The June initiative had in any case shown little effectiveness in damaging production; and the same - according to a local news source - the company would also think of the strike now underway.

The Samsung dispute is intertwined with the ongoing negotiations to set the national minimum hourly wage for 2025. A decision that is to be announced on 5 August but currently sees the parties of workers and employers in the Minimum Wage Commission still far apart.

The workers' representatives yesterday called for a 13.6 per cent increase that takes into account inflation currently at 2.4 per cent; the employers' representatives, on the other hand, called for a substantial freeze for the fourth year in a row, citing the difficult economic environment.

Currently, the minimum hourly wage is set at 9,680 won (about EUR 6.5). If the trade union demand were accepted, it would rise to 11,200 won (about 7.5 euro).