Union-Facing Kyung Gye-hyun: "Let's Start with Easy Issues and Resolve Through Dialogue" (Comprehensive)

Samsung Electronics CEO Kyung Kye-hyun's First Face-to-Face Meeting Since October Last Year’s Wage Negotiations
Also Asked, 'What Do You Think Makes a Good Workplace?'

Samsung Electronics CEO Kyung Kye-hyun delivering the New Year's address earlier this year

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Kyung Kye-hyun, CEO of Samsung Electronics (President, Head of DS Division), met with the labor union delegation on the 18th and expressed his intention to continue steady dialogue and start resolving issues from the easier ones. The company’s labor and management are currently in conflict due to a breakdown in wage negotiations.

According to the company, CEO Kyung met with representatives from four labor unions at the Hwaseong plant in the afternoon. On the company side, CEO Kyung and about three HR executives attended, while on the union side, each union chairman and secretary participated. The union had planned to discuss two key demands at this meeting: ‘improvement of the wage system’ and ‘guarantee of rest rights.’ With the breakdown of wage negotiations, the possibility of the first strike since the company’s establishment is emerging.

According to a company official, the atmosphere of the meeting was not bad. CEO Kyung, considering the recent situation, asked what they thought about a good workplace and requested them to talk about difficulties. It was reported that CEO Kyung said, “Let’s honestly talk about the difficulties and solve them together through dialogue and communication.”

At the meeting, it is known that both sides did not directly put the issues causing conflicts, such as wages, on the table for discussion. As it was the first dialogue, the focus seemed to be on creating an atmosphere where they could openly communicate. The union had been pressuring the company by demanding that the CEO personally engage in dialogue.

Initially, regarding the wage system, the union planned to deliver demands to the company such as changing the performance bonus payment criteria from the current EVA (Economic Value Added) to operating profit, abolishing the comprehensive wage system and wage peak system, and a fixed increase in the basic salary. Regarding rest rights, major demands included adding five paid holidays and making the company founding day and union founding day each a paid holiday. The company suggested that it would be difficult to discuss specific practical matters at this time and proposed arranging a practical consultation meeting later. A company official stated that it is currently unknown whether CEO Kyung will personally engage in dialogue going forward.

Samsung Electronics labor and management have held 15 rounds of negotiations since October last year but failed to narrow their differences, resulting in a breakdown of negotiations. Since the Central Labor Relations Commission has already decided to ‘suspend mediation,’ the union will secure the right to strike legally after a member vote, allowing them to carry out dispute actions such as strikes.

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