After concluding the Samsung Electronics wage negotiations on the 20th, Yeo Myoung-goo, Head of the DS People Team at Samsung Electronics, Choi Seung-ho, Chairman of the Super-Enterprise Labor Union, and Kim Young-hoon, Minister of Employment and Labor, join hands together. Photo = Yonhap News
| NewsWatch= Reporter Choi Sua | Samsung Electronics management and labor reached a tentative agreement on wage negotiations at around 10 p.m. on the 20th, just one day ahead of the scheduled general strike. Negotiations had broken down earlier that morning, raising concerns that the general strike would be pushed through. However, at 4 p.m. on the same day, the two sides initiated additional negotiations mediated by the Minister of Employment and Labor, ultimately succeeding in reaching a dramatic settlement late at night.
As a result, the general strike that had been announced to take place from May 21 to June 7 will not occur. The Joint Struggle Headquarters of the Samsung Electronics labor unions issued "Struggle Guideline No. 3," suspending the general strike period until separate guidelines are provided in the future. In addition, all union members are scheduled to participate in a vote for or against the tentative agreement from May 22 to May 27. If the agreement passes with a majority attendance and majority approval in the vote, the general strike and the labor-management conflict are expected to be completely resolved.
The contents of the tentative agreement are known to be a level at which both management and labor made slight concessions from their previous positions. Performance bonuses for the DS (Device Solutions/Semiconductor) division are set at 10.5% of business performance, with no payout cap, and the full amount after taxes will be paid in company stock. However, two-thirds of the company stock cannot be sold for one to two years. Furthermore, the performance bonuses will be paid when the DS operating profit reaches 200 trillion won between 2026 and 2028, and 100 trillion won between 2029 and 2035.
The distribution rate of the performance bonus resource for the DS division is divided into 40% for the division and 60% for the business units. The payout rate for the shared organizations will be calculated as 70% of the payout rate for the Memory Business Unit within the DS division. Business units experiencing a deficit for the current year can receive 60% of the shared payout rate, calculated using division resources, starting from 2027. The validity period of this agreement is 10 years.
At the signing ceremony for the agreement, Choi Seung-ho, Chairman of the Super-Enterprise Labor Union, said, "This agreement is the fruit of the Super-Enterprise Labor Union and the Joint Struggle Headquarters fighting with all their soul and might for the past six months," adding, "With the report card of the tentative agreement vote results, we will make sure to become a better super-enterprise labor union."
Samsung Electronics expressed its gratitude, stating, "We reached an agreement, albeit late, because of the public, shareholders, customers, the government, and executives and staff." At the same time, it promised to prevent a recurrence, saying, "We will adopt a humble attitude to build a more mature and constructive labor-management relationship so that this kind of incident never happens again." Yeo Myoung-goo, Head of the Samsung Electronics People Team, who attended the signing ceremony, said, "The company will faithfully implement the matters of this agreement and do its utmost for labor-management co-prosperity."
Kim Young-hoon, Minister of Employment and Labor, who stepped in to mediate the additional labor-management negotiations, expressed his thoughts by saying, "I am deeply grateful to the Samsung Electronics management and labor for not letting go of the thread of dialogue until the very end and reaching a tentative agreement through autonomous negotiations," and "In the midst of a massive change never experienced before, they resolved the problem through dialogue, showing the potential of K-democracy."
The Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) evaluated, "It is fortunate that the worst-case scenario of a strike was avoided and an agreement was derived," adding, "It is meaningful that management and labor each took a step back to find common ground through dialogue." It continued, "We hope that management and labor will resolve uncertainties and establish a reasonable labor-management relationship taking this agreement as an opportunity." The KEF also added a concern, saying, "The labor sector must not generalize this and spread excessive demands for performance bonuses across the entire industry."
Reporter Choi Sua newswatch@newswatch.kr
댓글
0