Union head Choi Seung-ho told the Korea Herald last month that roughly 200 Samsung engineers had left for rival SK hynix over the preceding four months, calling the departures evidence that Samsung's compensation structure is failing to retain critical talent during the AI memory boom.
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Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist.\u00a0 Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.\u00a0 ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-23/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Luke James Social Links Navigation Contributor Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.
ezst036 The threat of a huge strike has really done a terrible thing to the price of RAM in the last few weeks, above the already crazy price we already had. Its not all that different than what the threat of an oil shortage due to the loss of oil flow out of Hormuz does to gas prices. I really hope these guys give up soon. Reply
heffeque ezst036 said: The threat of a huge strike has really done a terrible thing to the price of RAM in the last few weeks, above the already crazy price we already had. Its not all that different than what the threat of an oil shortage due to the loss of oil flow out of Hormuz does to gas prices. I really hope these guys give up soon. Agreed. Hopefully these guys (multi-millionaires) give up soon, so that employees get a piece of the winnings (for once) and they can carry on with their day without having to resort to closing the fab. It amazes me that South Korea, with the infernal work-life balance it has (some say that it's worse than the USA even), and all the huge tech companies, it can't manage to have a higher GDP per capita than Spain, which has much better work-life balance, better employee protection and benefits, and doesn't have as many large international companies. Reply
bigdragon Corporate and executive greed is absolutely out of control so I hope these workers get what they're demanding. The people who actually make the widgets need to be able to afford nice things, take time off, and live comfortably. Nobody should be treated like an expendable robot. Reply
hotaru251 I feel no pity for a mega corpo who can afford it but this will 100% further them to automate more and more so they never have deal w/ this type of stuff again. Reply
Air2004 "the ongoing dispute centers around the union’s demand that Samsung uncap performance payouts and set them at 15%" That's a contradiction in terms. If I were management, not only would I call their bluff I'd shutdown the facility before they have a chance to walk. Or at the very least, make a final offer before they walk, if the union doesn't except lower it by 20% when they do return (because they will return). Fyi, I am a former Steward in my union. Reply
palladin9479 heffeque said: It amazes me that South Korea, with the infernal work-life balance it has (some say that it's worse than the USA even), HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA breath HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I lived / worked over ten years there, it's on a whole other level. The "standard" work week is 52hrs, though Samsung has permission to make it 63hrs for a couple months at a time. People are expected to work hard, like there is social shame for those who do bare minimum. Of course it's also damn near impossible to fire someone, and those guys party hard core after work. Reply
endocine Companies aren't going to tolerate those kinds of labor costs, jobs will be automated to an extreme, exported, or just lost, rampant out of control demand for memory doesn't seem sustainable. Reply
chaos215bar2 endocine said: Companies aren't going to tolerate those kinds of labor costs, jobs will be automated to an extreme, exported, or just lost, rampant out of control demand for memory doesn't seem sustainable. Right. God forbid the workers actually get a cut of the profit. What's unsustainable is a top-heavy economy where the people actually making everything happen don't have time to spend with their friends and family, can't afford to buy half of the things they're making, and are expected to spend their entire life serving the lucky few who happened to be in the right place at the right time when economic forces conspired to elevate them to a position of ownership. The smart members of the 0.1% recognize this and seek to even the odds. The stupid ones push for ever more consolidated power, thinking they'll forever be able to stay ahead of the curve as they destroy the very foundations of the economic systems that elevated them to where they are. They'll find out eventually, one way or another. If they're lucky, maybe it will be their kids who are left to find out what happens when you can't be bothered to care for the people who worked to get you where you are. Reply
Bikki Just let them walk, to sk hinyx or wherever they want. Why keep the one that dont want to work while asking for raise? Reply
chaos215bar2 Bikki said: Just let them walk, to sk hinyx or wherever they want. Why keep the one that dont want to work while asking for raise? Because Korea actually has some level of labor rights. And because these aren't just untrained workers you can replace overnight. How have people completely forgotten how workers have gained the rights they have today over the past ~100 years to the point they're willing to say this kind of thing, advocating we just throw it all away, sacrificed on the alter of Capitalism? The ignorance is astounding. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/samsung-and-union-resume-talks-10-days-before-planned-18-day-chip-factory-strike#main
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