As the Samsung Electronics labor union warned of a general strike on the 21st, a small-business group publicly pushed back, saying it should be withdrawn immediately.
The Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME) held a press conference on the 19th in front of the Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek campus and said it expresses deep concern and regret over the Samsung Electronics union, the corporations representing Korea, signaling a large-scale general strike.
Song Chi-young, head of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME), said in a statement, the union's demands for paying bonuses equal to 15% of operating profit and abolishing the bonus cap are beyond imagination for many small-business owners who cannot even generate revenue at the minimum wage level.
The statement continued, a giant union that already enjoys the nation's highest levels of pay and benefits has chosen the extreme measure of a strike solely for its own interests, calling it a selfish act that ignores the pain of the livelihood economy.
The federation argued that if the strike becomes a reality, not only small and mid-sized material, parts, and equipment companies that have a transaction with Samsung Electronics but also nearby neighborhood commercial districts could be hit.
Song said, labor activism without "coexistence" will struggle to gain public support, urging the immediate withdrawal of the general strike, an end to extreme industrial action, and the building of a win-win labor-management relationship through dialogue.
At the press conference, officials from small-business groups in Gyeonggi Province and merchants near Samsung Electronics also attended.
Im Yong-pil, head of the Pyeongtaek chapter of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME), said that if the strike drags on and damages to small businesses materialize, the group will consider a class-action lawsuit against Samsung Electronics.