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Little appears to have changed from Samsung’s old “no-union” management practices since its April pledge to directly hire Samsung Electronics Service (Samsung SVC) subcontractor employees and recognize union activity.

The group continues to show signs of a bad-faith approach to union negotiations and maintain its old “phantom unions.” Four democratic unions with Samsung affiliates – the Samsung SVC and Samsung (C&T) chapters of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, the Samsung Welstory union, and the Samsung S1 union – announced plans to “pursue a joint strike in July if Samsung does not change its attitude.”

According to accounts on May 31 from members of the four democratic unions, Samsung has refused to comply with demands to reinstate former Samsung SVC chapter leader Wi Young-il and former secretary-general Shin Jang-seop, who were dismissed during a 2014 union-busting closure of Samsung SVC partner companies.

“There was a demand for reinstatement during labor-management agreement procedures, but no response was received, so we filed an improper dismissal reversal suit and improper labor action accusations with a court and prosecutors, respectively,” Wi explained.

“During the prosecutors’ investigation of the accuser, evidence emerged from Samsung’s union-busting documents that Samsung SVC had ordered partner companies to ‘close down’ under false pretenses and fire the union leaders,” added Wi, who demanded immediate reinstatement in response.

In addition to Wi and Shin, Samsung’s democratic unions are also demanding the reinstatement of other workers dismissed while attempting to form unions, including Park Jong-tae of Samsung Electronics, Samsung General Labor Union president Kim Seong-hwan of Yi Chun Electric, and Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Heavy Industries.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU)

Samsung’s democratic unions are also demanding the disbanding of Samsung Everland’s “loyalist” union, which Samsung has refused to do. The loyalist union was slapped together in 2011 a week before four Samsung Everland workers established a democratic union (now the Samsung chapter).

“The loyalist union has been essentially totally inactive for the past seven years, and its inaugural president, a certain deputy department director Im, is a former member of the Samsung Everland personnel team who was responsible for obstructing establishment of the democratic union,” charged Samsung chapter deputy leader Cho Jang-hee.

“If Samsung really has given up on its no-union practices, it needs to immediately disband its loyalist union,” Cho said.

Samsung’s bad-faith approach also extends to dialogue with the unions. After being established in Apr. 2017, the Samsung Welstory union proposed labor-management talks on wages and a collective agreement; the company refused direct dialogue and handed negotiating responsibilities off to the Korea Employers Federation (KEF). The union has had 19 rounds of collective bargaining since Dec. 2017, but a deadlock has persisted for over five months.

“[Samsung] is refusing to talk directly to the unions and rejecting even basic union demands,” said union president Im Won-wi.

“Nothing has changed with Samsung’s [no-union] approach,” Im said.

The Samsung S1 union, headed by leader Jang Bong-yeol, could be seen as somewhat better off, having begun direct talks with the company in January. But those discussions have also remained bogged down despite 13 meetings in a five-month period. Since Samsung SVC agreed to convert subcontractor employees to regular employment status, its chapter has met with the company for five rounds of talks on follow-up measures – but the two sides have struggled to bridge differences on the workers’ treatment and other matters.

In the case of Samsung Everland’s loyalist union, Samsung signed a collective agreement within just one week of its 2011 establishment.

In response to the situation, the four democratic unions plan to hold a joint press conference in front of the Blue House on July 14 to demand the complete abolition of Samsung’s no-union practices and a thorough investigation into documents detailing union-busting tactics.

“If there have not been any changes from Samsung by then, the four unions plan to join together in parallel general strikes,” Cho Jang-hee said.

It is the first example in Samsung’s 80-year history of unions planning a general strike. Catholic University of Korea professor Cho Don-moon, a permanent representative with Samsung Labor Watch, said, “If Samsung truly intends to give up on its no-union management practices, it needs to take action immediately by sincerely apologizing for its past union-busting and improper labor practices, disbanding its loyalist union, engaging in good-faith labor-management bargaining, compensating victims of labor suppression, and reinstating improperly dismissed workers.”

“Otherwise, the Samsung SVC labor-management discussions cannot be seen as anything but a stalling tactic to smooth things over with the prosecutors’ investigation into the union-busting documents,” Cho added.

Samsung C&T, which the Samsung and Samsung Welstory chapter workers are affiliated with, responded by saying there had been “no major change in the response to labor-management relations since the Samsung SVC discussions.”

“We are always open to dialogue with the union,” the company insisted.

By Kwack Jung-soo, business correspondent

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