Samsung's union will begin an 18-day strike starting tomorrow after talks with management failed to reach an agreement. The two sides have been holding talks for several days with government representatives mediating to avoid disruptions to Samsung's memory chip production, which is badly needed by the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.
The strike involving 48,000 union members was called after the company refused to give bonuses to employees working in loss-making units. Samsung's demands are unreasonable. Among other things, the union is demanding the abolition of the 50% bonus limit for annual salaries, and asking for 15% of operating profits to be distributed as bonuses.
Union members criticized Samsung for giving bonuses that are three times lower than those given by SK Hynix. Like Samsung, SK Hynix is also a big profit maker due to memory chip sales.
Driven by high demand for memory chips from the artificial intelligence sector, Samsung recorded a profit increase of more than 750% and its market value reached $1.2 trillion last week. This makes Samsung only the second Asian company after TSMC to reach a market value of over $1 trillion. Due to these high profits, Samsung workers' unions are in talks with company representatives to demand higher compensation from their employers.
In a one-day strike last April, Samsung's foundry output fell by 58.1%, with RAM production alone down 18%. Samsung is now facing a loss of 30 trillion won (~RM 80 billion) due to the 18-day strike.
