"Samsung Electronics’ Labor and Management Hit Snag in Wage Talks", 26 January 2022

Samsung Electronics’ final wage proposal for 2021 was rejected in a union vote. The union is considering going on strike simultaneously with filing an application for arbitration with the Central Labor Relations Commission.

The National Samsung Electronics Labor Union, which is the largest union among labor unions at Samsung Electronics and is affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, held a union vote on the management’s final wage proposal. A vast majority of the union members, 90.7 percent, voted against the proposal...

The final plan included 30 million won in labor union development funds, which is intended to promote welfare for union members and prevent disasters, and consultations on improving the wage peak system and employee rights to take a rest.

However, the final proposal did not include the labor union’s wage-related demands, such as a lump-sum increase of 10 million won in annual salary for all employees and allocation of 25 percent of the company's operating profit to performance-based bonuses every year. The management clarified its position that it is difficult to raise wages further from the 2021 wage increase set by the Labor-Management Council, which is composed of representatives of executives and employees, in March 2021.

“The labor union strongly felt throughout the wage negotiations that Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong has not given up the no-union management policy,” the labor union said in a statement. “Now the negotiation table between the labor and management has broken down. We will switch to an emergency committee system to secure legal dispute rights and step up our struggle against the management.” The labor union plans to take steps to apply for arbitration by the Central Labor Relations Commission and consider going on strike depending on the arbitration outcome.

Samsung Electronics’ labor and management signed their first labor-management collective bargaining agreement in 52 years in August 2021. Their wage negotiations began in October of the same year, and negotiations have been held 15 times so far.