The Samsung Group Labor Union Solidarity, a coalition of unions from 13 Samsung affiliates, declared on the 30th that it will fight to the end "until the bonus system is changed to be transparent and reasonable and transparent."
The union held a press conference in front of the Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seocho District, Seoul, that day and said, "Reasonable compensation is a basic right of workers and the desirable direction Samsung should take."
Specifically, the Samsung Union Solidarity demanded improvements to the criteria for calculating bonuses, the elimination of disparities in bonuses between affiliates, and the abolition of bonus caps. Currently, Samsung Electronics and its affiliates calculate bonuses by reflecting the economic value added (EVA) method in the excess profit incentive (OPI, formerly PS), a bonus system based on annual operating profit. EVA is an indicator obtained by subtracting capital costs (corporate tax, investment funds, etc.) from operating profit, so even if operating profit is large, bonuses may be low if expense expenditure is high.
Oh Sang-hun, head of the Samsung Union Solidarity, criticized, saying, "The company is unilaterally setting the bonus payment criteria without consulting the union and is only notifying the results," and "It is difficult to know how much and how bonuses will be paid."
The union cited SK hynix's system as a transparent example of bonuses. In this year's bargaining, labor and management at SK hynix agreed to remove the cap on the profit sharing (PS) and to pay 10% of operating profit as bonuses. The Samsung Union Solidarity said, "Samsung should also switch to an operating-profit-based standard and introduce a no-cap bonus structure," adding, "It should motivate employees with a Samsung-like payout rate."
The Samsung Union Solidarity includes the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union, among others, as well as the Samsung Display union, the Samsung SDI Ulsan union, the National Samsung Electronics Service union, the Samsung Life Insurance union, the Samsung Life Insurance Service union, the Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance union, the Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Service Loss Assessment union, the Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Anycar Loss Assessment union, the Samsung Card Customer Service union, the Samsung Welstory union, the Samsung S-1 Participation union, and Samsung Engineering union &U (Enu).