Samsung Electronics Labor Union leader Choi Seung-ho, right, shakes hands with Yeo Myung-koo, head of the People Team at Samsung Electronics Device Solutions (DS) Division, after they signed a tentative wage and collective bargaining agreement at Gyeonggi District Employment and Labor Office in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Joint Press Corps
Samsung Electronics labor unions said Wednesday they decided to suspend their plan to go on strike for 18 days scheduled for Thursday. They will launch a vote by union members on their tentative agreement reached with the company’s management over the bonus payment system.
The unions said members will cast their votes from 2 p.m. on Friday through 10 a.m. on May 27.
The decision came about six hours after the unions and management of the company resumed talks over performance-based bonus payment systems, with Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon attending the negotiation session.
The two sides reached the tentative agreement after long-stalled negotiations that had continued since November last year.
The likelihood of a strike had surged after a mediation session hosted by the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) ended without an agreement just one day before the planned walkout. However, the government, labor and management continued negotiations in an extra session and ultimately reached a tentative deal.
“We apologize to the public for causing concern,” Samsung Electronics Labor Union leader Choi Seung-ho said at a press conference after signing the tentative agreement. “For now, we will do our best to manage the voting process, and we will continue working to stabilize labor-management relations at Samsung Electronics going forward.”
Yeo Myung-koo, head of the People Team at Samsung Electronics Device Solutions (DS) Division, also apologized to the public and thanked employees who waited for the negotiations to be concluded.
“We also extend our gratitude to the unions and government officials who worked to help reach an agreement,” Yeo said. “We will make this tentative agreement a starting point for building a mutually beneficial labor-management culture.”
The tentative agreement includes the creation of a special management performance bonus for the chip-making DS division, funded with 10.5 percent of jointly selected business performance indicators. Combined with an agreement to raise the basic incentive to 1.5 percent, the total payout ratio will reach 12 percent.
Source: Korea Times News
