Samsung wage talks likely delayed until next year

Samsung Electronics’ wage negotiations with its biggest labour union are likely to be postponed until next year, following a confidence vote on the union’s leadership on Friday.

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The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) held a confidence vote over the past week, with 62 percent of members approving the current leadership. According to industry sources, the union members once again trust the NSEU leadership to negotiate wages.

The confidence vote was held after NSEU members voted on November 21 to reject a tentative wage agreement for 2023 and 2024 reached by their leadership, reports Yonhap news agency.

Following a month-long strike by the union in July, the reached agreement had included a 5.1 per cent pay hike and other bonuses.

The NSEU plans to restart negotiations as soon as possible. However, the talks are expected to be scheduled for early next year with less than a month left in the year, sources said.

The NSEU represents some 36,000 workers, or about 30 per cent of the tech giant’s total workforce.

Last month, unionised workers of Samsung voted against a tentative wage agreement with the company. Some 58.6 per cent of the 22,000 voters from the NSEU voted to reject this year’s wage deal.

The deal was reached last week following a month long strike staged by the union in July. Wage negotiations between management and the NSEU began in January. The NSEU represents some 36,000 workers, or about 30 percent of the company’s total workforce.

The two sides are expected to have new rounds of talks later this week, sources said.