Samsung Electronics(005930) A labor union centered on employees in the device experience (DX) institutional sector will begin an extended rally near the home of Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics on the 18th. It is demanding additional compensation, saying the compensation gap with the device solutions (DS) institutional sector, which handles the semiconductor business, is large.
According to the industry on the 5th, the Companion Union plans to hold a launch ceremony on the 18th and stage rallies and one-person protests near the chairman's residence in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The union's policy is to continue the rallies without setting a separate end date.
What the union is pressing hardest for is expanded compensation for DX institutional sector employees. The Companion Union argues that 1,000 shares of treasury stock should be granted per employee and that a common pool should be created and distributed based on companywide performance. It is also demanding that the base salary increase rate (base-up) be applied equally across all business institutional sectors.
The Companion Union says that in the wage talks between labor and management at Samsung Electronics in May, the DX institutional sector was relatively sidelined. In particular, it maintains that the compensation gap is excessively large compared with the DS institutional sector, which is responsible for the semiconductor business.
Earlier, on the 21st of last month, it held a rally near the Samsung Electronics Seocho office building in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and labeled the deterioration in profitability in the DX institutional sector as a management failure by executives. At the time, it also urged that the demands of DX institutional sector employees be reflected through communication with management.
However, the business community says the Companion Union's demands lack realism. In particular, given that the DX institutional sector is experiencing management burdens such as deteriorating profitability, granting an additional 1,000 shares of treasury stock per employee could place a considerable burden on the company.
The fact that this year's wage negotiations were already concluded through government mediation, resulting in a labor-management agreement, is also expected to be controversial. As the union seeks additional compensation separate from the existing wage deal and embarks on a prolonged rally near the homes of top executives, a dispute over the principles of labor-management negotiations also appears inevitable.