It has all the typical elements of a dispute between a multinational firm and its unionized Korean workers. The workers claim that the foreign firm is ignoring workers' rights, while the company argues that the workers are self-centered. The result is an open-ended dispute. That is what is happening to 3M Korea. ― ED.
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
3M Korea has been entrapped in a long-running labor-management dispute that started after the establishment of a union last year. Unionized workers from its two factories in South Jeolla and Gyeonggi provinces have been staging rallies in front of 3M Korea's headquarters in Seoul every day.
The management has taken disciplinary actions against nearly 100 unionized workers and also filed a criminal and damages suit against them for what it calls "illegal" protests aimed at taking the upper hand in negotiations with the company, which are now deadlocked.
Unionized workers say they have staged the rallies after earning the approval of authorities, thus making them legitimate. They have pledged that their collective action will continue until the company stops what the workers call a crackdown on unionized workers and has the president, Frank Little, sit at the negotiation table instead of management-appointed chief negotiator, Park Won-yong, who they call "hawkish and heavy-handed."
With the company showing no sign of accepting the counterpart's request, it's unlikely that the dispute will end in the foreseeable future.
Since 1977, when the Minnesota-based multinational company opened its Korea office, it saw no disputes between management and labor until May last year. But the 32-year-old harmonious relationship between the two parties turned sour following the establishment of a labor union with nearly 600 members.