South Korea Samsung workers go on strike

SEOUL—Workers at South Korean tech giant Samsung began a three day general strike on Monday, the head of a union told Agence France-Presse (AFP), after talks with management broke down.

“The strike has started from today,” Son Woo-mok, head of the National Samsung Electronics Union, said.

The union, which has around 28,000 members, or more than a fifth of the company’s total workforce, announced the three-day general strike last week, saying it was a last resort after talks broke down.

The move follows a one-day walkout in June, the first such collective action at the company, which went decades without unionization.

Management at the firm, the world’s biggest producer of memory chips, has been locked in negotiations with the union over wages and benefits since January but the two sides have failed to narrow their differences.

“We are now at critical crossroads,” the union said in an appeal sent out to members last week, urging them to support the “critical” strike.

Demands

Workers have rejected the offer of a 5.1 percent pay hike, with the union having previously outlined demands including improvements to annual leave and transparent performance-based bonuses.

Samsung, which avoided its employees unionizing for almost 50 years, declined a request for comment.