TAIPEI: Hundreds of workers at a Micron Technology plant in Taiwan have voted to strike, the union representing the employees said Wednesday, after talks with the US memory chip giant over bonus reforms collapsed.
Global chip companies, including Micron, have been major beneficiaries of soaring demand for artificial intelligence, but as their earnings skyrocket, many workers are demanding a bigger share of profits.
Micron, which produces around 50-60 per cent of its chips in Taiwan, has been locked in talks over remuneration with two labour unions representing nearly 12,000 of 15,000 workers at its Taoyuan and Taichung plants.
“We formally declare today that the Micron Taiwan Union has obtained the legal right to conduct a strike and establish strike picket lines” at the Taoyuan plant, following a vote, the union said in a press release.
The unions are seeking a one-off bonus equivalent to 83 months’ salary, as well as a permanent system that allocates 15 per cent of the company’s operating profits to worker bonuses, distributed quarterly rather than annually.
Out of 2,258 eligible union members at the Taoyuan plant, 2,012 cast ballots, with 1,994 voting in favour of strike action and 14 voting against, the union said.
Four ballots were invalid.
Micron, as well as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, dominate the global market for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI servers alongside other data-crunching semiconductors.
Engineers and other workers have also sought higher payouts in tense negotiations at the South Korean firms.
Samsung averted a strike in May by agreeing to a deal to distribute bonuses equivalent to 10.5 per cent of operating profit to its semiconductor employees.
