Samsung Display Holds Labor-Management Collective Agreement Signing Ceremony... Strengthening the Three Labor Rights

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Samsung Display will officially sign a collective agreement with the labor union on the 14th.

According to Samsung Display, the management and labor will hold a collective agreement signing ceremony at 3 p.m. on the day at the Chungnam Asan Campus. This signing ceremony is the first among Samsung's five electronics affiliates (Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Samsung SDS, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung SDI) and comes eight months after Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics declared the end of "union-free management" in May last year.

At that time, Vice Chairman Lee declared through a public apology press conference following the recommendation of Samsung's Compliance Committee, "We will ensure that the term 'union-free management' is no longer used at Samsung," and "We will strictly comply with labor-related laws and firmly guarantee the three labor rights."

Previously, management and labor reached a tentative agreement on the collective agreement last month after eight rounds of negotiations. The final draft reportedly includes a total of 109 clauses, including recognizing 9,000 hours of annual paid time off (time off) for Samsung Display's labor union. The union plans to begin discussions with management on performance bonuses and wage negotiations as early as the end of this month after the signing ceremony.

Samsung has maintained union-free management since the era of its founder, the late Chairman Lee Byung-chul, but has shifted toward strengthening the three labor rights starting with Vice Chairman Lee. To this end, Samsung established a "Labor-Management Relations Advisory Group" last year and has implemented measures such as mandatory labor compliance training for employees.

Samsung is also practicing coexistence through joint technology development with partner companies. The Samsung Electronics Partner Company Council, which marked its 40th anniversary last year, is working to strengthen competitiveness by resolving difficulties for coexistence with Samsung Electronics and conducting seminars on new technology acquisition for second- and third-tier partners. The council, composed of 201 first-tier partner companies, recorded total sales of 57.9 trillion KRW in 2019, approximately 25 times higher than in 1991.

Meanwhile, the signing ceremony on the day will be attended by Kim Beom-dong, Vice President and Head of the HR Team, along with Kim Jeong-ran and Lee Chang-wan, co-chairs of the Samsung Display Labor Union. However, Choi Ju-seon, the new CEO of Samsung Display, and Kim Man-jae, Chairman of the Korean Metal Workers' Federation, the higher organization of the company’s labor union, will not attend.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.