What They Say
The Korea Herald reports that labour unions at Samsung in Korea are threatening to go out on strike, which would be a first for the firm in over 50 years. The remark comes after the labour union’s arbitration with the management at the government agency National Labor Relations Commission fell through earlier this week. This gave the labour unions a right to stage a walkout after it had filed for arbitration on Feb 4th. (Threat of a Strike at Samsung)
Unions pointed out that SK Hynix fixes the annual incentive payment at 10% of its annual operating profit. The paper said that unions want to scrap the “comprehensive wage system,” under which total overtime allowance is included in employee’s basic salary — meaning workers don’t get paid for overtime — as well as the “wage peak system.” The wage peak system involves an annual cut in salaries to employees nearing retirement, and has been suggested by the government as a way to encourage firms to allow later retirement.
An in-house labor-management council of Samsung has suggested a minimum basic pay raise of 15.7% for this year
What We Think
Hmmm, I’ve no experience of labour relations in South Korea, so won’t comment, although I note that labour unions have only 5,000 members out of 110,000 total, although members in supplier companies might also be involved. (BR)
