OREANDA-NEWS  Members of the Samsung Electronics National Trade Union have announced the first full-scale strike in the company's history. More than 6.5 thousand employees of the South Korean manufacturer took part in it, the Financial Times (FT) reports.

The reason for the strike was wages and working conditions. The union demands Samsung to respect work activities, increase bonuses and increase vacation pay. NSEU also accused Samsung's management of failing to capitalize on the growing demand for artificial intelligence.

The union expected disruptions in the production of Samsung chips, claiming that five thousand people involved in the design, manufacture and development of semiconductors took part in the action. Samsung stated that it was not affected by this.

"We are doing this out of desperation that it cannot be done if not now. We will continue to fight until the company changes," union leader Song Woo Mok said at a rally near Samsung's headquarters in Hwaseong, 45 kilometers south of Seoul.

In early March, cargo transportation in almost all ports of Finland stopped due to a strike against labor market changes proposed by the Petteri Orpo government. The protesters oppose the measures of the Cabinet of Ministers related to pension reform, sick leave payments, unemployment, simplification of layoffs, prohibition of strikes and other changes. The action, which paralyzed the work of the ports, was supported by the Industrial Trade Union, the trade union of workers of motor transport, the public sector and the social security sector, as well as the trade union of electricians of a European country.

As of March 2024, the total damage to the German airline Lufthansa from mass strikes since the beginning of the year amounted to approximately 100 million euros. The reason for the start of the actions was dissatisfaction with the current salaries. The Verdi trade union demands an increase in salaries for all ground workers of the German concern by 12.5 percent, or 500 euros, per month over the next year.