According to industry sources on Sept. 7, wage negotiations between Samsung Electronics and its union have been on hold since April 21, prolonging the cooling-off period.
Other electronics affiliates within the group, such as Samsung Display and Samsung Electro-Mechanics, concluded their wage negotiations in May. SK hynix also agreed on wage negotiations last month. However, Samsung Electronics still seems to be hamstrung by negotiation risks.
Last year, Samsung Electronics couldn’t conclude wage negotiations promptly, and this year too, both sides are only reaffirming their differences, with talks stalling.
The key reason for this year’s stalled negotiations is a disagreement over collective bargaining rights. While Samsung Electronics has held separate wage negotiations with both its labor council and union, the primary union, the Nationwide Samsung Electronics Union under the Federation of Korean Metalworkers’ Trade Unions, which represents about 10,000 members (or 7% of the total 124,070 employees), insists that only the union has the right to negotiate wages. Based on Article 33 of the Constitution, they argue that only labor unions possess collective bargaining rights, and thus, the company’s wage negotiations with the labor council are illegal.
On the contrary, management believes that negotiations with the labor council are not problematic. Last year, the union filed a complaint against the company for holding wage negotiations through the labor council, alleging it was illegal. However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor judged that there were no unfair labor practices, as there isn’t a union with over half of the workers as members, making the labor council negotiations legitimate.
While the wage increase rate determined by the Samsung Electronics Labor Council for this year is 4.1%, the union argues it should be at least 6% considering competitors’ rates. On the other hand, the management suggests that the economic downturn makes meeting the union’s demands challenging. The wage negotiations, which began last December, are still unresolved.
The conflicts arising from the wage negotiations are also mirrored in collective negotiations. Although Samsung Electronics and its labor union signed their first collective agreement in August 2021, its validity period (2 years) expired last month, necessitating a new agreement. However, neither side has even scheduled preliminary meetings yet. They plan to meet soon to discuss the upcoming schedule.