Thousands of South Korean Samsung Workers Mobilize Ahead of Potential Strike

Samsung Electronics Workers Rally in South Korea Demanding Higher Pay and Bonuses

Tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics workers gathered in Pyeongtaek, a city located south of the capital Seoul, on Thursday to demand higher pay and bonuses. The workers, who are threatening to stage a weeks-long strike, are seeking a seven-percent wage hike and the end of a cap on bonuses and other benefits.

The rally, held outside the company's largest factory for making memory and logic chips, drew a large crowd of demonstrators waving banners reading "Let's eliminate the bonus cap" and "Change it to be transparent!" The workers are also demanding that Samsung allocates 15 percent of its operating profits for bonuses.

According to a union official, more than 40,000 members took part in the rally. While local police did not immediately give an estimate, the sheer number of workers participating in the rally highlights the significance of the dispute. The unions, which represent nearly 90,000 workers in total, have said they will stage a strike from May 21 to June 7 unless a deal with management is reached.

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The dispute comes as South Korean technology firms are riding an AI boom that has bumped up national growth and drawn it closer to industry leaders the United States and China. Samsung's shares have surged nearly 300 percent over the past year, while its rival SK hynix said on Thursday that it had obliterated its quarterly profit record.

Samsung said this year it had begun mass production of next-generation high-bandwidth memory chips, HBM4, seen as a key component for scaling up the vast data centres needed for AI development. The company has also stated that it will continue to work toward reaching a wage agreement at the earliest possible date.

Comparison of Samsung's Recent Performance

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The dispute also highlights the changing dynamics of South Korea's business landscape, which has traditionally been anti-union. Samsung's founder, Lee Byung-chul, was once a staunch opponent of labour unions, vowing never to allow them "until I have dirt over my eyes." He died in 1987, and it wasn't until the late 2010s that Samsung Electronics' first labour union was formed.