Wage negotiations at Samsung Electronics break down
Unionized workers representing 11 labor unions affiliated with Samsung Group hold a press conference to call for a 5.4 percent wage increase for 2024, in Seocho district, Seoul, Feb. 6. Yonhap
Wage negotiations between management and a labor union at Samsung Electronics broke down, industry sources said Tuesday, leading the latter to start the process to go on strike.
The tech giant's management and the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) held the sixth round of talks over this year's wage increase earlier in the day, but the negotiations broke down as the two sides failed to narrow down their differences, according to the sources.
The management has suggested a 2.5 percent pay raise, but the NSEU has come up with an 8.1 percent increase.
The NSEU said it plans to bring the dispute to the National Labor Relations Commission for arbitration later in the day.
After the claim is filed at the state commission, it will step in to mediate for a period of ten days.
If the two sides fail to reach an agreement even after the ten day-mediation, the union is given the legal authority to initiate a strike.
The NSEU is the biggest single labor union at Samsung Electronics with some 17,000 members.
Samsung Electronics has not had a strike since its founding in 1969. (Yonhap)