this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
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201
South Korea court orders Samsung union strike to not impact chip volume (www.straitstimes.com)
submitted 20 hours ago by sanitation@lemmy.radio to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 9 points 4 hours ago

To look at this another way: the government of South Korea has decided to give people the feeling of a strike without actually letting it affect bottom lines in any meaningful way. That is, they have relegated the strike (a key utility of those fighting for workers' rights) to being a tool used solely to assuage discontent in the short term. Without economic teeth, it cannot be used to enhance the lives of workers, which is ultimately the explicit goal of any strike.

South Korea is of course not alone in reducing or eliminating the rights of its citizens so that corporations continue to profit at their expense.

[–] bassgirl09@lemmy.world 31 points 9 hours ago

I don't think these people understand what a strike is. Those in power forget that their power is provisional to what the people are willing to put up with.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 14 points 9 hours ago

Aside from the obviously skewed interests of the court, they do understand what a state is for, and how it usually ends, if that shifts?

[–] frightful5680@lemmy.world 18 points 11 hours ago

Then have them go make the chips themselves. Maybe if you weren't such greedy fks we wouldn't have this problem.

[–] febra@lemmy.world 33 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

So how's the government gonna enforce this? Slavery?

[–] username_1@programming.dev 17 points 12 hours ago

Yes, they will just call it in a nicer way. Anti-crisis management or something.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 154 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Nothing is more powerful than a union that can shut down a billion dollar company while also scaring the ever loving shit out of its own government.

This is the reason why unions should be everywhere.

Power to the people!

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 99 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Swede here, one of the best thing about unions here is that sympathy strikes are legal.

When Toys 'R Us tried to establish themselves on the Swedish market, they refused to sign a collective bargaining agreement with the national store workers union.

TRU refused to hire union staff, which is legal, but other unions took notice and sympathy strikes started.

TRU could not get advertisements and marketing material printed as the print media union refused the work.

TRU could not get deliveries as the transport union refused to handle their deliveries.

TRU could not even pay their bills as the financial workers union refused to process their payments.

So TRU gave in and signed a CBA, they hired union staff and the stores could open, however the time in Sweden was relatively short lived for TRU.

These tactics are in use currently against Tesla as they have also refused to sign a CBA.

Sadly they have proven to be less effective in this case.

Last I heard the dockworkers union still refuse to unload Tesla cars in Swedish ports, so Tesla unloads them outside of Sweden and use foreign transportation companies to deliver them.

The postal workers union refuse to deliver registration plates to Tesla, so they have started having the new owners take delivery of the plates and then fit them at Tesla.

The most effective part is that the electricians union refuse to work on Tesla chargers, so new ones are not connected and broken chargers are not repaired. At my local super market there are six new chargers that are just sitting there and have been for the last two years due to this.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 0 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

This is how working people should be represented overall and everywhere

... and no, I'm not talking about a socialist or communist hellscape where society is governed or managed by an powerful manager class - that crap just reeks of the current system we have now in the capitalist system.

We just need a balance in society ... let all the rich people get their rocks off and try to make as much money as possible but place them in a limited box of wealth, if they make 100 million dollars, they get a plaque that says 'you won capitalism' and they are now forced to retire and go live on their wealth ... meanwhile, every working person is given a decent wage, any excess profit is spent on worker benefits and supports, safety, education, health care, childcare and vacation time.

We can't keep maintaining this insane system of businesses and companies that use the labour of individual people, paying the worker as little as possible while giving away the excess profits of that work to people who have not contributed to any of the work other than to claim some kind of ownership or entitlement to the business or company.

[–] RIotingPacifist@lemmy.world 1 points 32 seconds ago

We just need a balance in society … let all the rich people get their rocks off and try to make as much money as possible

Why?

I’m not talking about a socialist or communist hellscape where society is governed or managed by an powerful manager class

What about learning what a socialist society would actually be and ignoring capitalist & soviet propoganda that conflated the USSR/CCP with socialism.

How about a society in which workers control their workplaces via unions and cooperatives? That's what a socialist society would actually be.

[–] TheJesusaurus@piefed.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

So.... Socialism then

[–] zeroConnection@programming.dev 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

Did you read the article? The court pretty much took away their power to strike.

[–] TheJesusaurus@piefed.ca 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, and how is the court to enforce that

[–] zeroConnection@programming.dev 1 points 1 minute ago

Courts don't enforce, police do.

[–] Garbagio@lemmy.zip 34 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Lol or what? This is what these megacorporations never understand: If I'm already broke, wtf do I give a shit about a fine? We'll just strike harder. And good luck getting scabs.

[–] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 39 points 14 hours ago (3 children)

Every time I see"court orders striking workers to go back to work" I always wonder yo myself why they think that will work.

Of course, I'm even MORE baffled when it works.

You guys had them so terrified that they got courts involved, and you think THEY Hold the power?

Protip: if you hold out long enough, fines will be dropped. If you hold out long enough, their resort is to put you in jail, in which you still won't be working (for that company, anyway)

Also there's a super secret move where you and your coworkers drag your employer out of their home in the middle of the night.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 16 points 11 hours ago

Anyone doubting this should look up what happened with CUPE in Ontario, Canada. The government passed a law that would fine them for striking. They went on strike anyway, and a collective of national unions threatened a general strike. The government repealed the law and wiped out all the fines.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Ronald Reagan fired every single Air Traffic Controller for striking.

It really comes down to political will

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 9 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

And they are still short staffed to this day.

[–] minfapper@piefed.social 1 points 1 hour ago

That's not a win for the workers

[–] zeroConnection@programming.dev 9 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Let's hope Koreans are more like the French than American.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Oops your 2.5B WON state of the art lithograph machine is dismantled, wish we could make chips but nothing we can do right now.

[–] zeroConnection@programming.dev 7 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

"Oops, you're all going to jail and getting fined a shit load."

So it all depends how they respond to that.

The American way - weekend strike is over let's go home and back to work. We tried.

Or the French way - let's go burn down the government buildings and set police cars on fire.

[–] TheJesusaurus@piefed.ca 0 points 2 hours ago

You think collective punishment of the working class for "accidents"(sabotage) by a few is going to go well for the owning class?

Ok

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

or what

I'm guessing possible jail time? They are the state, they can make it illegal for them to strike and then arrest them.

[–] TheJesusaurus@piefed.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

Yes, and then the state can be reminded why there is a legal structure to striking at all.

Not because workers wanted it.

[–] tmyakal@infosec.pub 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Ah, yes, putting all the skilled labor in jail will surely help the factory run better.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Nope, it would cripple it for a time. I'm not saying it's a good idea, but it's not unprecedented

[–] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 2 points 9 hours ago

It also becomes a giant red flag to any potential applicants.

"Why is this position open?"

"We had the previous employee imprisoned for complaining too hard about how little we were paying him"

Not that it can't happen, and similar things continue to happen, but most (and certainly the best) candidates will avoid that place for many years, and demand extremely high pay from the beginning.

[–] Flower@sh.itjust.works 48 points 15 hours ago

That's a good way to start a general strike in the country.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 28 points 14 hours ago

samsung owns korea practically.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 40 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

So maintain chip volume, but switch production from memory chips to corn chips.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 10 points 17 hours ago

I approve of this delicious stratagy.

[–] harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com 82 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Isn't that kind of the point, though?

[–] captchacrunch@piefed.social 49 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Are you new to the state being an arm of the rich?

[–] harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 10 hours ago

Unfortunately no.

[–] Bademantel@lemmy.world 32 points 19 hours ago

That's hilarious.

[–] fta@lemmy.zip 15 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Adding to pressure on the union, a South Korean court partially granted Samsung’s request for an injunction, ordering the union to ensure any strike did not disrupt production.

The ruling means that a strike must not lead to the degradation of materials used in production, while operations related to safety and avoiding product damage must be maintained at normal levels, a court spokesperson said by telephone.

So… they can stop producing chips?

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 hours ago

It sounds like time for some malicious compliance. Go back to work, but spill stuff and "accidentally" cause damage to the machines. Make this option even worse for them then just letting them strike.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 6 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

degradation of materials used in production

If materials can oxidize or otherwise expire, they'd have to use up those materials, which means that whole part of the line keeps running.

[–] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 7 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

And then oops, guys, we couldn't get this delivery canceled in time. The parts are gonna go bad if we don't use them, so... Strike week after next?

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Oops your 2.5B Won lithography machine somehow dismantled itself.

[–] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 2 points 8 hours ago

Wild how that happens, eh? Total shame that all the workers were too distracted thinking about how they should be striking to notice how it happened, too.

[–] vrek@programming.dev 1 points 17 hours ago

Yeah, I'll use them to prop up this table... Oh some of them can be used to make shadow puppets... Maybe some can be used to ensure proper efficiency of the garbage trucks...