Samsung Electronics, striking labor union resume talks

Samsung Electronics Co. and its largest labor union were set to resume wage talks again Monday following an unsuccessful initial meeting amid an ongoing strike, industry sources said.

The scheduled negotiations between management and the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) come after their previous talks ended without an agreement last week.

Last week’s meeting was the first management-labor discussion since NSEU’s full-scale strike started on July 8.

The NSEU has proposed three days of “end-of-the-line bargaining” from Monday on the condition that the company presents a satisfactory negotiation proposal.

The company said that it is difficult to accept the union’s demands realistically, but expressed a willingness to actively engage in dialogue during the negotiations.

The NSEU is demanding a 5.6 percent basic pay raise for all members, a guaranteed day off on the union’s founding day and compensation for economic losses due to the strike.

In contrast, Samsung Electronics has offered a 5.1 percent increase in wages, emphasizing its commitment to building a win-win labor-management relationship.

Despite the strike lasting more than two weeks, Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker, reported minimal impact on production.

As negotiations resume, industry watchers are keen to see if both parties can reach a compromise to prevent further disruptions and maintain Samsung Electronics’ competitive edge in the global semiconductor market.

The NSEU reports a total membership of 31,000, accounting for approximately 24 percent of Samsung Electronics’ total workforce of about 125,000.