Despite Stable Business Performances
Multiple foreign pharmaceutical companies in South Korea are receiving voluntary retirement applications. Although they are mentioning HQ reorganization as their reason, employees are claiming that the companies are undermining employment stability despite stable business figures.
Novartis Korea received the applications until Sept. 8 and at least 13 persons applied, according to the National Pharmaceutical & Bio labor Union. At the end of last year, Novartis Korea had 532 employees, including 216 unionized employees. Pfizer Korea and GSK Korea recently downsized their marketing arms by receiving the same applications.
This has to do with those companies’ global business policies. Earlier, Novartis said that it would reduce the number of its employees from 108,000 to 100,000 for the purpose of cost reduction. Pfizer recently downsized its marketing arms in India and Brazil to shift its focus towards non-face-to-face marketing.
According to unions in the industry, the measures are unnecessary in that those companies are showing stable business performances. Pfizer Korea’s annual sales increased from 391.9 billion won to 1.694 trillion won last year, when Novartis Korea’s increased from 532 billion won to 544.2 billion won. “Those companies have sent maximum dividends to their HQs and set excessive sales costs while affecting employment and the National Assembly needs to step in to address these issues,” the unions said.