Samsung Electronics Labor-Management Resume Wage and Welfare Negotiations After 78 Days... Tug-of-War Expected Between Both Sides

Union Proposes Wage Increase and Performance Bonus Improvement

Samsung Electronics management and the largest in-house labor union, the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union (Jeonsamno), have resumed the main negotiations for the wage collective bargaining agreement (wage CBA).

Members of the Samsung Electronics Labor Union nationwide are holding a rally to win the general strike.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to industry sources on the 17th, Samsung Electronics labor and management held wage CBA negotiations for about two hours from 1:30 PM at the Nano Park negotiation hall in the Giheung Campus, Gyeonggi Province. This main negotiation session is the first in 78 days since July 31.

Starting with this negotiation, labor and management plan to hold wage negotiations every other Monday and collective agreement negotiations every Wednesday. A tug-of-war is expected between both sides over various issues including the wage increase rate, the performance evaluation method and other wage systems, employee health-related programs, in-house welfare, and regulations on union activities.

The union proposed agenda items such as wage increases for union members, designation of one day as the union founding anniversary, and improvements to the performance bonus system. Jeonsamno stated, "Regarding the collective agreement, both labor and management plan to proceed with revisions and additions based on the '2023 agreement draft,'" adding, "Even the '2023 collective agreement draft' contains about 128 agenda items to be addressed, so we proposed frequent practical negotiations." The negotiations will initially focus on the 2023?2024 wage CBA, which had not been concluded earlier.

During the negotiation on July 31, labor and management significantly narrowed their differences but declared a final breakdown after failing to reach a compromise on welfare agenda items presented at the end of the talks. At that time, Jeonsamno requested 2 million points on Samsung Family Net, the company product purchase site for employees, but it was rejected on the grounds that it might violate the "no work, no pay" principle.

Considering that in previous negotiations the union’s demands were partially met but the wage increase rate itself was not adjusted, this main negotiation is also expected to show a similar pattern. If the 2023?2024 wage CBA is settled, negotiations for the 2025 wage CBA are scheduled, so it is expected to take some time before the talks are finalized. A Samsung Electronics official stated, "We will sincerely engage in negotiations and do our best to reach an agreement that allows both labor and management to develop."

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