"A Sense of Urgency" Samsung Executives Gather in Pyeongtaek... Union Says, "We Will Negotiate If You Bring a Core Proposal"

[Financial News] Young-hyun Jun, head of Device Solutions and vice chairman, along with other semiconductor executives, traveled to Pyeongtaek to meet union leaders in an effort to prevent a general strike. The union says it will return to the bargaining table only if the company brings proposals to abolish the cap on performance bonuses, make the system more transparent, and institutionalize those changes.
According to the enterprise-level labor union on the 15th, Jun, Kim Yong-kwan, executive in charge of management strategy for the DS division, Han Jin-man, president of the Foundry Business, and Yong-In Park, president of the System LSI Business, visited the union office that day. On the union side, Choi Seung-ho, chair of the Samsung Electronics branch of the Samsung Group Enterprise-wide Union, along with Lee Song-i, vice chair, Kim Jae-won, director, and Jeong Seung-won, director, took part in the meeting.
The executives repeatedly asked the union to resume negotiations. Their direct visit to the union office is being read as a strong sign that management wants to resolve the dispute head-on rather than avoid responsibility. At the meeting, the executives said, "A strike means both labor and management lose, so we came here out of a sense of urgency," adding, "We hope dialogue can resume before it comes to a strike."
The union, however, drew a firm line, saying, "It is possible if there is an agenda on core demands." The statement is being interpreted as a message that talks will resume only if management brings proposals that match the union's demands.
Until now, after two failed post-arbitration mediation attempts by the National Labor Relations Commission, the union had maintained its plan to push ahead with the strike, even after management asked to restart talks, saying it was willing to discuss the matter only after June 7, when the general strike ends.
The union has said its key demands include abolishing the cap on performance bonuses and making the bonus calculation system more transparent by linking it directly to operating profit instead of the current economic value added, or EVA, method. It also wants those changes to be institutionalized and maintained over time.
If those demands are not accepted, the union plans to launch a general strike on the 21st.
Before visiting the Pyeongtaek campus, the Samsung Electronics executive team issued a joint statement saying, "We have placed a heavy burden on the public, shareholders, and the government because of labor-management issues at Samsung Electronics," and added, "We deeply bow our heads and apologize."
The number of union members who have said they will join the general strike has reached 46,028. That scale is seen as large enough to cause irreversible damage, even if the government were to step in with an emergency post-strike intervention. Industry estimates put the direct and indirect losses from the strike at about 100 trillion won.
one1@fnnews.com Jung Won-il Reporter