"If the company repeats the same position in the next mediation, it seems employees have passed their threshold for stalling."
Samsung Biologics(207940) a union official said this on the 8th while coming out after finishing the first post-mediation at the Incheon Regional Labor Relations Commission in Michuhol-gu, Incheon. Labor and management at Samsung Biologics proceeded with post-mediation that day with the consent of both sides. This means they are returning to mediation while the union has secured the right to strike after labor-management mediation broke down.
Labor and management held post-mediation from around 2 p.m. to around 4 p.m. that day in a tense atmosphere. Seven people from the union side, including three executive members and four bargaining committee members, and two people from the company side, including an executive director-level official, attended along with a mediator from the Labor Relations Commission. The meeting discussed wage increases.
The union was said to have proposed a basic wage increase rate of 6.5% plus 3 million won, and a performance increase rate of 3% based on individual evaluations. It said that if the increase rate is lower than this, the wage gap with the competitor Celltrion(068270) could widen. The company was understood to have offered a 4.1% wage increase and a 2.1% performance increase.
As the post-mediation neared its end that day, an opinion was voiced to the effect that "labor and management should work with trust, respect and sincerity," and "we are all colleagues working for the company, so it would be nice to see each other with a smile in the next mediation." This was reportedly a request the mediator made to both sides.
Post-mediation has no deadline. Labor and management did not reach a conclusion that day. They plan to hold a second post-mediation on the 15th. Before that, on the 10th and 11th, they will hold labor-management talks in the presence of the mediator, then each side will整理 its views and reflect them in the post-mediation.
The Samsung Biologics union saw mediation with management collapse in March. After a partial strike in late April, the union launched the first general strike since the company's founding in early May. Since then, labor and management have failed to reach agreement on wage talks and personnel systems, and in mid-last month they applied for post-mediation.
Going forward, if post-mediation continues and a mediation proposal emerges, it will carry an effect similar to a collective agreement. If labor and management agree to the post-mediation proposal, it is effectively a settlement of the wage negotiations. The union's position is that if post-mediation falls through and differences with management remain to the end, the door is open to resuming collective action. Samsung Biologics said it "will faithfully participate in the post-mediation."