Roh Tae-moon Meets New Samsung DX Union Leadership; Donghaeng Union Holds One-Person Protest at Parliamentary Audit

[Financial News] The newly elected executive board of the Donghaeng Union of Samsung Electronics Labor Union (SECU) staged a one-person protest at the site of a parliamentary audit as its first official activity since taking office. The Donghaeng Union also plans to continue calling for a joint bargaining framework in which the Device Solutions (DS) Division and the Device eXperience (DX) Division participate together next year, arguing that the DX Division's voice was not sufficiently reflected in this year's wage negotiations.
The Donghaeng Union, a labor union centered on Samsung Electronics' finished-products (DX) Division, is staging a one-person protest at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, where a parliamentary audit is being held, on the 6th. This is its first official on-site activity since Son Yong-ho and Ahn Young-deuk were elected last month as chair and senior vice chair, respectively, of the Donghaeng Union's fifth executive board.
Lee Sang-ho, the union's director of operations, began the protest at 9 a.m. Newly elected Chair Son will join him at the site during the morning after completing a labor-management meeting with Roh Tae-moon, Samsung Electronics' representative and head of the DX Division. This is the first official labor-management meeting between the Donghaeng Union chair and the head of the DX Division since the new executive board took office.
The Donghaeng Union argues that DX employees were relatively sidelined as the wage negotiations proceeded with a focus on the DS Division. While it agrees that DS employees should receive performance-based compensation, the union maintains that DX employees' voices should also be reflected in compensation and bargaining, given that businesses such as smartphones, TVs and home appliances have contributed to Samsung Electronics' performance and competitiveness.
Lee, the director of operations, said at the site, "The wage agreement is being discussed only from the DS perspective, while the rest is being excluded," adding, "We are conveying a request that the company come up with measures to boost the morale of DX employees."
In particular, the Donghaeng Union is expected to expand direct communication with the company following the labor-management meeting between Chair Son and the head of the DX Division. Samsung Electronics also plans to hold a town hall meeting for all DX Division employees, chaired by Roh, in the near future. The meeting is intended to provide a forum for direct communication between DX employees and management.
The Donghaeng Union is also calling for an opportunity for multiple unions to participate in joint bargaining during next year's wage negotiations. According to the union, it currently has about 31,000 members, including a considerable number of DX employees. Lee said, "It is not appropriate that we are unable to make our voices heard properly simply because we are a minority union, even though a large number of members have come together," adding, "We intend to engage in dialogue with other unions and seek to create an opportunity for joint bargaining so that we can respond to the company together."
The Donghaeng Union said in a statement that day, "We are not opposing fair compensation for DS employees," stressing, "When semiconductors were struggling, smartphones, TVs and home appliances sustained the company, and when semiconductors delivered strong results, those results contributed to Samsung Electronics' competitiveness as a whole. Therefore, the voice of either side should not be excluded from wage negotiations."
[email protected] Im Su-bin Reporter