SEOUL, July 19 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF )

and representatives of its biggest workers' union in

South Korea that has been on a strike since early last week have

agreed to resume negotiations on Friday, the two sides said.

They plan to meet on Friday to set a firm negotiation

schedule, Son Woo-mok, president of the National Samsung

Electronics Union whose roughly 30,000 members make up almost a

quarter of the company's South Korean workforce, told a YouTube

live broadcast.

The union has been on an indefinite strike over pay and

benefits.

Samsung said in a statement it hopes that the strike will be

resolved as soon as possible, and confirmed it has proposed an

unconditional resumption of dialogue.

Analysts have said a drawn-out strike by key personnel will

add to challenges for Samsung, the world's biggest memory

chipmaker, which is struggling to navigate competition in

semiconductors used for artificial intelligence.

Samsung has said the strike has caused no disruption to chip

production.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Joyce Lee; Editing by Muralikumar

Anantharaman)