(News1)
The two top executives of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. have unusually stepped to the forefront amid the wage negotiation standoff at the company.
Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, who heads the Device Solutions (DS) division, and President Roh Tae-moon, who leads the Device eXperience (DX) division, emphasized in an internal message on Thursday that “all management will act responsibly to ensure that the company does not lose its future competitiveness amid an extremely challenging global business environment.”
Their remarks are being interpreted as reflecting a growing sense of crisis that internal divisions within the company are rapidly spreading beyond the scope of ordinary labor-management talks to a companywide risk.
The industry is on high alert due to the potential for a full-scale strike to become a reality.
Samsung Electronics’ labor union has announced plans for an 18-day general strike beginning on May 21.
Some observers estimate that if actual production disruptions occur, losses could reach as much as 30 trillion won ($20.6 billion).
Minority shareholder groups have also publicly called for the strike to be withdrawn.
At a press conference held at the National Assembly on Thursday, the Korea Shareholder Movement Headquarters criticized the planned strike by Samsung Electronics’ union as “a fatal act of self-destruction that undermines future assets,” even raising the possibility of legal action, including claims for damages.
ACT, a platform for minority shareholders, also joined the movement to protect shareholder rights.
ACT announced on the same day that it supports a petition to be submitted by the Korea Shareholder Movement Headquarters urging the court to grant an injunction banning “illegal labor actions” at Samsung Electronics, and said it has launched an electronic signature campaign through its application.
The nature of the conflict is also becoming more complicated.
Recently, tensions within the Samsung unions have surfaced publicly, going beyond the traditional labor-management confrontation.
Samsung Electronics Labor Union Donghaeng, which has around 2,300 members, recently sent an official letter to the Samsung Electronics branch of Samsung Group’s umbrella labor union, and the National Samsung Electronics Union demanding the sharing of negotiation information and an end to discriminatory treatment.
At the heart of the dispute are differing conditions among business divisions.
While the core demands of Samsung Group’s umbrella labor union focus on expanding performance bonuses for the semiconductor unit under the DS division, around 70 percent of Donghaeng Union members belong to the DX division, which oversees TVs, home appliances, and smartphones.
The DX division has recently been struggling to the point where the possibility of annual losses has even been raised.
During earlier intensive negotiations, Samsung Electronics proposed industry-leading performance bonus funding and special compensation measures, but the union declared a suspension of negotiations while demanding measures such as a permanent abolition of the cap on performance bonuses.
Public concerns are also mounting.
Kim Ji-hyung, chairman of the presidential Economic, Social and Labor Council, recently appeared on a YouTube program and commented on the Samsung Electronics labor dispute, saying, “Rather than ending in the wasteful outcome of a strike, I recommend that Samsung Electronics labor and management seriously consider mediation or arbitration procedures that allow objective judgment.”
Observers noted that it is highly unusual for the head of the country’s top labor policy body to publicly comment on a labor-management dispute involving a specific company.
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