The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) has announced an indefinite extension of the three-day strike action it undertook earlier this week.

In the second strike organized by the union, workers in South Korea walked out on Monday, July 8, and were due to return to work on Thursday, July 11. However, Samsung’s management has reportedly failed to engage with the NSEU, resulting in the strike being extended.

The NSEU consists of approximately 28,000 workers, around one-fifth of the company’s workforce. About 6,500 workers have taken part in this week’s strike action.

According to a Google-translated copy of the union’s second general strike declaration, members are asking for an extra day of leave every year to mark the union’s founding, a 3.5 percent increase in the base rate of pay, improvements to the company’s performance-based bonus system, and reasonable compensation to all union members who participated in the strike.

“We have confirmed that there will be... production disruption and the company will regret this decision,” the declaration read.

In a separate comment, the union’s vice chairman Lee Hyeon-guk said the NSEU’s official guidelines requested workers not to give prior warning of their strike participation to make it more difficult for Samsung to find replacement personnel.

“The longer the strike lasts, the more blood the company will have and the more it will eventually bend its knees and come to the negotiating table. We are confident of a victory,” the declaration read.

“Let's work together to protect our rights and create a better future.”

The union also urged workers who were still hesitant to participate in the strike action to get involved, claiming that “hesitation only delays results” and the union needed its members’ “determination to advance our goals and victories.”

A three-hour-long training session was also being offered to employees wanting to take part in the strike, consisting of an attorney-led talk on ‘understanding labor strategies and unfair labor practices’ and a must-know information session led by a former Hyundai Motors branch manager.

The union staged an initial walkout on June 7 however, in that instance, participating workers were asked to use paid annual leave.

It has since been reported that the June action had no impact on Samsung’s production or business activity and because the walkout took place the day after a Korean public holiday, the company has claimed that even with the strike action taking place, there were fewer employees on annual leave that day than on the equivalent day the previous year.

Elsewhere this week, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Coventry, in the UK, have started voting in a trade union recognition ballot after the tech giant rejected employees' requests for voluntary recognition. The results of the vote are expected next week.