Samsung Electronics Labor Union (SELU), the company’s largest labor union, has agreed to restart talks with management next week. This comes before a planned strike scheduled for May 21.
The union announced it accepted a new mediation request during a three-way meeting on Friday with the Gyeonggi District Employment and Labor Office. The office’s commissioner strongly recommended resuming negotiations and promised full government support.
“Given the government’s active commitment and repeated requests, the union decided, after internal review, to take part in an additional negotiation process,” the union stated. It added that it made this decision as the authorized body negotiating for all Samsung Electronics labor unions.
However, SELU still plans to go ahead with strike preparations if the outcome doesn’t satisfy its members. Its leader, Choi Seung-ho, stressed, “We will move forward with a general strike without hesitation.” The extra talks are set for Monday and Tuesday.
This request came as Samsung Electronics’ labor coalition faced growing internal problems between SELU and smaller unions. These smaller unions claimed the coalition’s demands mostly focused on the company’s chip-making employees.
The coalition, made up of SELU’s three main unions — National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) and Samsung Electronics Co. Union (SECU) — demanded that management remove the cap on performance-based bonuses and set aside 15 percent of annual operating profit for payouts, threatening an 18-day strike.
However, NSEU, the second-largest union, sent an official letter to SELU on Thursday. It demanded an apology for comments that allegedly threatened to exclude certain representatives from collective bargaining talks.
According to NSEU, Choi criticized some NSEU representatives for gathering opinions from members in the company’s Device Experience (DX) division (which handles smartphones, TVs, and other devices). He reportedly warned they could be excluded from talks if they didn’t apologize.
“This is not just an attack on an individual but an act that effectively tries to remove the representation of DX workers at the bargaining table,” NSEU said. “(His remarks) once again seriously damaged the trust between workers and the unions.”
NSEU’s latest action follows a similar move by SECU, which mostly consists of DX division employees. SECU earlier told the coalition it would no longer participate in collective negotiations, saying its proposals to benefit all union members were repeatedly ignored.
SECU demanded an official apology from SELU, accusing the dominant union of ignoring and belittling its members and repeatedly using insulting terms for SECU, like “company-friendly union.” Now that the company’s management and labor unions have agreed to talk again, everyone is watching to see if they can reach an agreement.
According to industry insiders, Samsung Electronics has promised to use an amount equal to 10 percent of operating profit for performance bonuses, similar to what other companies in the industry do. The company is also said to have pledged special rewards if it achieves management results similar to this year’s level. This marks a step back from its previous stance of keeping the existing cap on performance bonuses.
