Samsung Display labour union set for 1st ever strike next week

The labour union said its six officials will first stage a walkout on Monday and will encourage more members to join the move.

Seoul: The labour union of major display maker Samsung Display said on Wednesday its union leadership plans to go on strike next week, as the union and the management failed to narrow differences in wage talks, marking the first-ever walkout for the company and any Samsung Group affiliate.

The labour union said its six officials will first stage a walkout on Monday and will encourage more members to join the move.

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It will be the first strike for any Samsung affiliate since Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of South Korea’s top conglomerate, promised last year to scrap the group’s “no labour union” policy, reports Yonhap news agency.

About 2,400, or around 10 percent of the firm’s employees, are members of the labour union, and 91 percent of them voted for the strike last month.

The labour union was launched in February last year as a member of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, one of the two largest local labour umbrella bodies.

XSamsung Display, the world’s top mobile display panel maker, has been focusing on its migration to next-generation quantum-dot (QD) displays, while withdrawing from the LCD business.

But for large LCD panels for TVs, the company recently said it is mulling extending its manufacturing for one more year due to soaring demand from TV makers and rising panel prices.