(News1)
Samsung Electronics management and labor representatives will hold last-minute negotiations Monday ahead of a planned nationwide strike that has become a broader test of South Korea’s semiconductor competitiveness, corporate labor model and economic stability.
If the second round of post-mediation talks collapses, Samsung could face an unprecedented large-scale walkout at the world’s biggest memory chipmaker, raising fears of supply disruptions across the global semiconductor industry.
The chances of a compromise appear higher than during the first round of negotiations after Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee personally appealed for unity and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok warned the government could invoke emergency arbitration measures to block economic fallout.
Returning to South Korea through Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center last Friday, Lee bowed in apology over concerns caused to customers and the public by the labor dispute.
“To labor union members and the Samsung family, we are one body and one family,” Lee said. “Now is the time to wisely combine our strength and move forward together.”
Following Lee’s remarks and changes to Samsung’s negotiating team, the union agreed to resume talks.
Samsung and union representatives are scheduled to meet Monday morning at the National Labor Relations Commission in Sejong. Union officials including Choi Seung-ho, head of the Samsung Electronics branch of the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union, will participate alongside Samsung executives including Yeo Myung-koo, head of the company‘s Device Solutions division’s People Team.
At the center of the negotiations is the union’s demand to institutionalize a profit-sharing system tied to operating profit, similar to the framework already adopted by rival SK hynix, which distributes 10 percent of operating profit to employees.
Samsung management faces mounting pressure because accepting such a framework could encourage similar demands across South Korea’s major conglomerates.
Some industry observers expect a compromise involving a temporary profit-sharing arrangement lasting several years or a separate incentive structure outside the standard bonus system.
“The union’s demands are aggressive, but with a strike looming, management may have little choice but to accept part of them,” Song Heon-jae, an economics professor at the University of Seoul, said. “It could become a structure in which operating profits are shared with workers only during periods of extraordinary semiconductor profitability.”
Analysts warn that a prolonged strike could inflict economic losses of as much as 100 trillion won ($66.7 billion). Some market observers have even speculated that certain U.S. technology companies may avoid purchasing chips produced during a strike period because of concerns over supply stability and production quality.
The South Korean government has also taken an unusually direct stance.
In a nationally televised address Sunday, Prime Minister Kim said the government would consider “all available response measures, including emergency arbitration,” if a Samsung strike threatened severe damage to the national economy.
The remarks drew attention because Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon, who holds authority over emergency arbitration decisions, stood beside the prime minister during the announcement.
If emergency arbitration is invoked, strikes would be suspended for 30 days while the labor commission conducts mediation.
댓글
0