Labor and Management of Samsung Display Sign Collective Bargaining Agreement

Samsung Display has become the first Samsung Electronics affiliate to sign a collective bargaining agreement with its labor union. The pact came seven months after Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong declared in May an end to the company’s “no-union” policy.

The company’s labor and management held a signing ceremony for the collective bargaining agreement at Asan 1 Campus in South Chungcheong Province on Jan. 14.

The collective bargain agreement reportedly allows for a time-off system for employees who work for the labor union full time to guarantee their union activities.

The two sides started negotiations on the agreement in May 2020. They tentatively agreed on a 109-point collective bargaining agreement in December 2020 after a total of nine rounds of negotiations. They fleshed out the agreement with more details before signing it. The labor union plans to hold talks on wage and welfare benefits for 2021 with the management as early as late January.

It was December 2019 that Samsung Group officially declared that it will not stick to its long “no-union” tradition. At that time, Lee apologized for controversy over Samsung Electronics and Samsung C&T's violations of labor laws and promised to create a new labor-management culture. At a press conference in May 2020, he reaffirmed his intention to abandon no-union management.