Taoyuan union ends talks with Micron after ‘defeat’

A union representing workers at a Micron Technology Inc plant in Taiwan yesterday said that it would pull out of further talks with the US chip giant after “our defeat” in trying to secure a new profit-sharing deal.

Surging global demand for chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers has sent revenues soaring for firms like Micron, and as their earnings skyrocket, workers are calling for a bigger cut of profits.

Micron, which makes about 50 to 60 percent of its memory chips in Taiwan, has been locked in weeks of talks over remuneration with a union representing hundreds of workers at its Taoyuan plant.

A rider passes by Micron Technology’s facility in Taoyuan on Sept. 17.

Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters

More than 2,000 employees had threatened to strike as they pushed for a bigger share of the company’s earnings. In the end, only a handful of employees stopped working for one day.

“We formally acknowledge that our campaign to secure a profit-sharing system has not been successful, and we must continue our efforts in the future,” the union representing the Taoyuan workers said in a statement, acknowledging “our defeat.”

The union said its members could go ahead with the company’s requirement to sign an agreement “waiving the right to future disputes” in order to receive “bonuses and other new employment benefits.”

It added it would “no longer participate” in negotiations on Tuesday next week.

Micron denied that it had required employees to “sign individual agreements or to waive any rights.”

“Micron respects team members’ lawful rights to organize a union and to engage in collective bargaining,” the company said in a statement, adding that it would “continue to seek constructive dialogue with the Taoyuan Union.”

At Micron’s larger plant in Taichung, the union representing thousands of workers there signed an agreement with the company last month after they “reached consensus on a number of matters,” a joint statement said at the time.

Micron had agreed to move to a quarterly profit-sharing bonus system, in addition to the annual bonus, and increase the company’s pension contribution, Micron Memory Taiwan Co (台灣美光) chairman Lu Donghui (盧東暉) said.