SEOUL (ANN/THE KOREA HERALD) – Wage negotiations resumed on Tuesday between Samsung Electronics and its largest labour union, but were unable to come to an agreement, according to informed sources.
The ninth round of talks featured Son Woo-mok, head of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), and Kim Hyeong-ro, the company’s vice president.
This was the first wage negotiation since the NSEU declared a full-scale strike on July 8.
They held a preparatory meeting last week to discuss schedules for the talks.
The talks lasted nearly eight hours from 9 am but ended without any significant progress, according to the sources close to the matter.
Samsung Electronics has offered a 5.1 per cent increase in wages, emphasising its commitment to building a win-win labour-management relationship
However, the NSEU is demanding a 5.6 per cent basic pay raise for all members, a guaranteed day off on the union’s founding day and compensation for economic losses due to the strike.
Despite the strike lasting more than two weeks, Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chipmaker, reported minimal impact on production.
Still, the prolonged strike raises concerns over potential weakening of competitiveness in the country’s crucial semiconductor industry.
The NSEU reports a total membership of 31,000, accounting for approximately 24 per cent of Samsung Electronics’ total workforce of about 125,000.
