The entrance to Samsung Electronics office in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on May 13. [NEWS1]
Management and labor at Samsung Electronics may be headed back to the negotiating table after the state labor watchdog formally urged both sides to resume mediation talks on Thursday, days after marathon negotiations over performance bonuses collapsed without agreement.
The National Labor Relations Commission officially requested that Samsung Electronics and its labor unions reconvene for a second round of post-mediation talks on Saturday, according to a press release issued by the commission.
“We once again recommend a second post-mediation meeting to facilitate sincere dialogue and substantive negotiations between labor and management and help peacefully resolve their differences,” the commission said.
The recommendation comes amid an escalating standoff between Samsung Electronics and its organized labor over key union demands, including scrapping the annual bonus cap and distributing 15 percent of the semiconductor division’s annual operating profit to workers.
Management and labor held marathon negotiations under mediation overseen by the commission over two days beginning Monday, but talks broke down in the early hours of Wednesday after the labor side walked out, saying the gap between the two sides remained too wide to bridge.
At the time, the commission said it had supported discussions by presenting “various alternatives based on the arguments of both labor and management,” but ended the process without proposing a formal settlement after the union requested that post-mediation talks be suspended.
“The gap between the positions of the two sides is significant,” a commission official told the JoongAng Ilbo.
Under Korean labor law, post-mediation can begin if both sides jointly request it, if one side requests it and the other agrees, or if the commission chair recommends it and both parties consent.
Separately on Thursday, Samsung Electronics sent an official letter to labor unions proposing additional direct talks, signaling its willingness to continue negotiations outside the formal mediation process.
“During the recent National Labor Relations Commission post-mediation process, labor and management each conveyed their respective positions but failed to reach an agreement,” Samsung Electronics said in the letter. “Accordingly, the company proposes that labor and management engage in direct dialogue.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
댓글
0