Samsung Electronics labor and management have narrowed their differences on the performance bonus system to a large extent, but on the ground ahead of a general strike, clashes and confusion over attendance management are intensifying. As complaints surface that management is forcing prior attendance registration and the use of personal leave to discourage strike participation, the union is seen as fueling confusion by failing to provide clear guidelines during the general strike process.
On the 20th, according to multiple Samsung Electronics employees, some on-site managers in the DS (semiconductor) institutional sector and elsewhere informed team members the day before that "those who have not completed approval for dispute-related attendance in advance will find it difficult to participate in the strike later, and if you do not intend to come to work during the dispute period, you must use personal annual leave." Employees objected, saying that even on the day of the strike the in-house work approval system can reflect attendance in real time, so requiring prior registration is nonsense, but on-site managers were said to have stuck to the existing work policy.
Some say this is effectively making prior registration a barrier that blocks strike participation. Others say management intends to gauge the size of participation in advance to sap the strike's momentum.
There is also controversy over rubber-band-style changes to the criteria for operating the minimum staffing needed to keep the line (site) running during the strike. Even within the same organization, the minimum staffing criteria communicated varied by team, and there were claims that the numbers were changed multiple times under the pretext of higher-level instructions.
At some sites, explanations were shared that "once the union guidelines come out, we will readjust the existing team criteria." Among frontline employees, there are also complaints that "maintaining the line is just an excuse; in reality, frontline leaders are aggressively urging team members to come to work because they are conscious of their own performance evaluations."
Meanwhile, some point out that the Samsung Electronics union worsened the confusion while pushing a large-scale general strike due to a lack of detailed manuals and on-site control. They argue the union's clumsy response system ultimately shifted anxiety and the risk of disadvantages onto rank-and-file members, revealing limits in leadership. Some union members are said to be considering reporting to labor authorities after securing recordings and conversation logs that they say contain evidence of the company's unfair labor practices.
At 10 a.m. on the 20th at the Government Sejong Complex, Samsung Electronics labor and management will resume the third post-mediation session and make a last-minute push over the biggest sticking point: the allocation ratio by business unit of the performance bonus pool. The union is said to be proposing to allocate 70% of the semiconductor institutional sector's performance bonus pool as a common share, while management is pushing to expand differentiated ratios by business unit. The industry says that if a final agreement is reached, the likelihood of a general strike could diminish, but if talks collapse, on-site confusion and controversy over attendance management could escalate into further conflict.