Small and midsize businesses said they question whether fair compensation and rewards have been made for partner SMEs after Samsung Electronics' management and labor reached a tentative wage agreement.

On the 20th at the Gyeonggi Regional Employment and Labor Office in Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Ye Myeong-gu, head of the People Team for DS (Device Solution, semiconductor business) at Samsung Electronics, and Choi Seung-ho, Chairperson of the Samsung Group Supra-Enterprise Labor Union's Samsung Electronics chapter, shout "Fighting!" after signing a tentative agreement following wage talks./Courtesy of News1

KBIZ on the 21st issued its "position of the SME community on the settlement of negotiations between Samsung Electronics' management and labor," saying, "We are relieved that Samsung Electronics' management and labor concluded talks without reaching the extreme situation of a semiconductor line shutdown," and added, "This agreement is meaningful in that, at a time of intensifying global semiconductor competition, concerns about production disruptions at corporations with enormous influence on the domestic economy have been dispelled."

However, it noted, "Workers and owners of SMEs who watched the process of negotiations between Samsung Electronics' management and labor feel heavy-hearted," adding, "Amid a dispute over performance bonuses amounting to hundreds of millions of won, questions remain as to whether partner SMEs have received fair compensation and rewards."

It continued, "The deepening polarization between large corporations and SMEs is the most serious problem in society," explaining, "SME workers' wages are at half the level of large corporations, and the gaps in various bonuses and welfare benefits are even wider." It added, "The competitiveness of Korea's semiconductor industry, regarded as a world leader, is a result achieved as one team by thousands of partner firms and SMEs in materials and parts," and, "The contributions and roles of partner SMEs must also be fairly evaluated."

KBIZ said, "The SME community hopes that the co-prosperity measures promised by Samsung Electronics will become effective measures that lead to a virtuous cycle of partner firms' research and development, facility investment, and wage increases."

Earlier, on the eve of a strike, Samsung Electronics' management and labor reached a tentative agreement that includes creating a special performance bonus for the semiconductor (DS) institutional sector and paying 10.5% of business performance entirely in company stock. Under the agreement, performance bonuses for employees in the DS institutional sector this year are expected to reach up to about 600 million won before tax.

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