After Samsung was hit by its first-ever workers strike in South Korea last month, unhappy employees are ready to keep up the pressure on the company with further action planned this month. The move could impact the company’s semiconductor production division.

The National Samsung Electronics Union, the largest of Samsung’s several unions with around 28,400 workers, said it will stage a three-day walkout beginning July 8.

After some employees took a single day off on June 7, the employees and the company resumed talks on June 13 which now seem to have reached a stalemate.

The union announced the walkout on Monday after the latest wage negotiations failed to yield any breakthroughs.

Samsung management didn’t accept the union’s demand for additional paid leave and a higher wage hike for 855 workers who didn’t agree to a 3 per cent annual basic pay increase, reported Bloomberg.

The company has historically set pay increases through a council consisting of representatives from both sides, and, in March that labour-management council agreed to increase this year’s pay by 5.1 per cent, representing a 3 per cent basic pay increase and 2.1 per cent performance raise.

However, that agreement was later called off due to differences over paid leave and bonus payments.

There’s no immediate number available as to how many workers from the union will join the walkout, but the union will attempt to encourage as many as it can to do so.

That move is a setback for the company that is trying to keep its semiconductor production on track.

In a sign that the unions are wary of taking any action that will severely impact production at Samsung, the union leaders for the very first time met with Jun Young Hyun, Samsung’s new head of its semiconductor division.

According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung secured first place in the global semiconductor market in Q1 2024. It captured 11 per cent of the semiconductor market beating rivals including Nvidia (10 per cent), Intel (9 per cent), SK Hynix (7 per cent), and Qualcomm (6 per cent).