"Carry out good-faith bargaining! Restore broken trust!"
Just past noon on the 22nd, the area in front of the main gate of the Songdo business sites of Samsung Biologics in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, was covered in an intense wave of red instead of the blue that symbolizes "Samsung." It was the site of a large rally to vow a fight, the first since the company's founding 15 years ago. About 2,000 employees by the union's count donned black headbands reading "condemn insincere bargaining" and launched an unprecedented collective action.
Union Chairperson Park Jae-seong of Samsung Biologics said that day, "Since the leak of the HR team document in November last year, the company has shown a lack of accountability without a proper apology." Earlier, Samsung Biologics faced controversy after an HR team file containing personal information such as the resident registration numbers, education, and salaries of 5,000 employees was leaked internally.
Chairperson Park said, "It also turned out that the company separately managed a list of employees participating in the ordinary wage lawsuit," adding, "To restore trust in the company, measures such as punishment of those responsible or improvements to the organizational culture are needed."
Chairperson Park said, "The cause of the labor-management conflict lies with the company," adding, "We are not fighting to bring the company down but to set the company right."
An employee of Samsung Biologics said that day, "The act of breaking into the union office without permission and trying to seize a laptop is proof that employees are being seen not as partners but as targets of surveillance and suppression," adding, "The company bandies about trust with clients, but how can a corporation that even breaks into a union office talk about trust with the outside world?"
Samsung Biologics recorded consolidated operating profit of 2.0692 trillion won last year. The union's stance is that the company should share its performance with employees. The union is proposing an average 14% wage increase, a 30 million won bonus per person, and an allocation of treasury shares over three years.
According to the union, the company needs to distribute more than 20% of operating profit as Over-achievement Profit Incentive (OPI). OPI is a Samsung Group incentive program paid early the following year based on annual results. Samsung Biologics currently pays up to 50% of an employee's annual salary as OPI, but the union wants the cap removed and incentives paid in line with operating profit.
The Samsung Biologics union plans to launch a full strike on the 1st of next month. The company filed for an injunction with the Incheon District Court on the 1st to ban the union's industrial action. The court has not yet ruled. The company says a strike could affect the operating schedule of its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) plants for biopharmaceuticals.