Cheong Wa Dae thanks Samsung labor and management for a broad-minded decision on tentative agreement

\r\n
[Financial News] Cheong Wa Dae said on the 20th that it was grateful for the “broad-minded decision for the good of the nation and the people” after Samsung Electronics labor and management reached a dramatic breakthrough and drew up a tentative wage agreement.
A Cheong Wa Dae official said the outcome reflected the efforts of government officials, including the labor minister, who worked through the mediation process until the end.
Earlier, the National Labor Relations Commission had tried to mediate bonus negotiations between Samsung Electronics and its labor union through the first and second post-dispute adjustment procedures, but the effort fell through.
On the day, Kim Young-hoon, the Minister of Employment and Labor, personally oversaw the bonus negotiations between Samsung Electronics and its labor union at the Gyeonggi Regional Employment and Labor Office in Suwon. After continued talks, the sides reached a tentative wage agreement dramatically, just one day before the union's general strike.
The Samsung Electronics labor union plans to vote on the tentative agreement from the 22nd to the 27th.
Cheong Wa Dae and the government had voiced concern over the Samsung Electronics labor union's strike and stressed the need for a negotiated settlement.
Earlier in the day, President Lee Jae Myung criticized the Samsung Electronics labor union, which had threatened a general strike over bonus payments in the tens of millions of won, during a State Council of South Korea and Emergency Economic Review Meeting he chaired at Cheong Wa Dae. He said, “Before taxes, which can be described as the common share of the people, are even deducted, it is not something even investors can do to systematically divide and take a certain percentage of operating profit. Do not cross the line.” His remarks were sharper than two days earlier, when he said, “Corporate management rights should be respected as much as labor rights.”
In particular, the president also said, “The reason rallies are allowed is to ensure both the individual’s dignity through free expression and the free order of society as a whole. But they should not be abused or misused in a way that causes serious suffering to others by going beyond an appropriate line.”
cjk@fnnews.com Choi Jong-geun Reporter