South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called for setting "appropriate limits" on collective labor actions at a cabinet meeting, just as government-mediated negotiations between Samsung Electronics and labor unions broke down, leading to an increase in the risk of strikes.
Although Lee did not mention Samsung by name, shortly before he spoke, the global chip giant's union leader said that the 18-day work stoppage originally scheduled to start on Thursday will go ahead as scheduled as negotiations have reached an impasse again. Samsung accused the union of making "excessive" demands.
According to the live broadcast of the cabinet meeting, Lee Jae-myung said: "It is understandable that some labor unions exercise their rights to safeguard their own interests, but at the same time, there must be appropriate limits."
The core of the dispute lies in the salary distribution mechanism. Samsung's labor union demands that the current bonus cap be lifted, 15% of the company's operating profits be allocated as employee bonuses, and relevant provisions be formally included in the labor contract.
Samsung has proposed using 10% of operating profits for bonuses, plus a special one-time compensation package that is higher than industry standards. Company executives believe that the union's demands are difficult to maintain in the long term.
Li Zaiming said that "the income from operating profits mainly belongs to investors and shareholders" and that the practice of directly distributing a fixed proportion of pre-tax profits through an institutionalized method is "somewhat difficult to understand" for him.
