The Samsung Biologics labor union set a deadline for a response as it demanded the company resume wage and collective bargaining talks. As labor-management conflict has worsened into a legal battle, the union is turning up the pressure again. The union said that if the company does not agree to resume talks within the deadline, it plans to take additional legal action, including supplementing its existing complaint over refusal to bargain.
According to the industry on the 9th, the Samsung Biologics union sent an official letter to the company on the 8th demanding the resumption of wage and collective bargaining talks and requested a reply.
Park Jae-seong, head of the Samsung Biologics Coexistence Chapter of the Samsung Group supra-company union, said in a phone call with a reporter, "We have officially submitted a revised proposal and also sent an official letter demanding the resumption of talks," and "we have requested a reply from the company."
The union is also reviewing additional legal action if the company does not agree to resume talks. Earlier in Mar., the union filed a complaint against the company and CEO John Rim for alleged refusal to bargain under the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act.
Park said, "We believe the company is focusing on legal actions such as injunctions rather than bargaining," and argued, "A precedent should not be set in which labor-management issues are resolved through judicial procedures instead of bargaining."
The union is pushing to withdraw from the Samsung Group supra-company union. To that end, the union plans to convene a general meeting from the 16th to the 18th to introduce a withdrawal motion and hold a member vote from the 24th to the 28th. Depending on the outcome, it will decide whether to shift to an independent course.
It also says this is organizational housekeeping, not a weakening of its struggle posture. The judgment is that differing interests by affiliates and the departure of the Samsung Electronics union from talks have weakened the centripetal force of the supra-company union. Park said, "We concluded the supra-company union failed to push through joint agendas and did not significantly strengthen bargaining power."
The company's position differs from the union's claim that management is evading talks.
Management and labor held multiple rounds of talks up to the mediation stage, and the company says it has continued to present revised proposals during the negotiations. It says the union only recently began adjusting its demands.
The issues between labor and management have expanded beyond a simple level of wage increases to include certain collective agreement demands. The gap between the two sides over the union's demands is still said to be wide.
Samsung Biologics issued a statement last month saying it "has faced difficulties in talks because the demands are realistically hard to accept," and added, "In particular, demands directly tied to the company's personnel rights and management rights were hard to accept from the company's standpoint, making it difficult to find a negotiating middle ground."
The legal battle between labor and management is also ongoing. The appellate hearing for the injunction case related to industrial action was held on the 5th, and the court has given both sides until Jul. 3 to submit additional briefs. The union expected a ruling on the appeal as early as late Jul. Both sides are said to view the legal decision as a key variable that will affect the future bargaining framework and strike strategy.
A company official said, "We plan to continue dialogue between labor and management and engage in talks in good faith."