Samsung's workers union announced its plan to organize the first-ever strike in the South Korean tech major's more than five-decade history, seeking better wage options after negotiations with the management failed.
The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), with about 28,000 workers, the largest union among several others at the company, announced the decision Wednesday during a press conference.
The union's demand is a 6.5% pay rise and a bonus based on the company's earnings, and has been negotiating with the company since the start of this year to reach on terms.
A union official at the live-streamed press conference said the union has declared it will start taking strike action, asking all of its members to take annual leave on June 7 as an initial protest.
Last week, NSEU's more than 2,000 company workers had gathered in Seoul in a rally demanding better wages.
The news comes as the South Korean tech giant is taking efforts to strengthen its semiconductor business and its competitiveness amid surge in chip demand, despite uncertain global business environment.
The company is boosting its semiconductor manufacturing and research and development activities, mainly in the United States.
It was last week that Samsung announced the appointment of Young Hyun Jun as the new chief of its chipmaking unit, Device Solutions Division.
In mid-April, the US government offered up to $6.4 billion funding to Samsung to build semiconductor manufacturing and research and development facilities in Texas.
This adds to Samsung's proposed investment of over $40 billion in the state to build a cluster of semiconductor factories in the coming years.
In its latest first quarter, Samsung reported significantly higher net income and operating income mainly as the Memory Business returned to profit by addressing demand for high value-added products. Sales also climbed on the back of strong sales of flagship Galaxy S24 smartphones and higher prices for memory semiconductors.