South Korea Sees Increasing Employee Activism as Country Emerges from COVID

For the first time, South Korean tech giant Samsung has agreed to negotiate with its union to avoid an “unprecedented strike” if the union’s demands for higher pay and better working conditions are not met. The labor shortage caused by the pandemic has given Korean employees more power to demand higher pay and profit share, reasonable working time, flexible working location, inclusive practices, and better career progression.  

Despite supply chain and chip production challenges, Samsung Electronics posted historic high revenue results for 2021, roughly an 18% increase on the previous year.  And not surprisingly, the Samsung workers in Korea are looking for the company’s prosperity to be reflected in their salary increase demands of around 16%.  

Wage negotiations with the unions reached a stalemate in October 2021, and it appeared quite possible that Samsung workers would go on a legally approved strike. However, the strike was averted in late February 2022 following an agreement by Samsung to hold wage talks between the Union and one of the Samsung Co-CEOs.  The company has reiterated that it remains reluctant to agree to the workers demands for an annual salary increase equivalent to US$8,400 and performance bonuses equivalent to 25% of the Samsung conglomerate operating profit. 

Samsung is not the first global organization to respond to demands from Korean employees for a greater share of the pandemic windfall. In October 2021, Korean employees of Microsoft also voted to strike over what was considered an insignificant pay increase in spite of the company’s annual business results and the sacrifices of the employees during the pandemic. 

Outlook: As Korea emerges from the pandemic, there is evidence of a stronger appetite for employee activism.  A "squid games" styled general labor protest in October 2021 saw thousands of workers gather in Seoul to demand greater wage equality and improved working conditions. It’s therefore not unexpected that employees will look to the business results of their employer – both in Korea and at the global level - to set a bar for the negotiation of local wages.