SEOUL, Dec 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The world’s biggest smartphone and
chipmaker Samsung Electronics issued a rare apology Wednesday after its
chairman was jailed for sabotaging union activities.
Chairman Lee Sang-hoon and executive vice president Kang Kyung-hoon were
both jailed for 18 months for leading a wide-ranging operation to deter staff
at Samsung’s customer service unit operating a union.
Samsung Electronics is the flagship subsidiary of the Samsung group, by
far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates known as chaebols that
have propelled South Korea’s rise to the world’s 11th-largest economy.
Along the way it has fought ferociously against union representation,
until local authorities in Suwon, where it is headquartered, last month
certified the National Samsung Electronics Union, which is affiliated to a
powerful umbrella group.
Lee and Kang were found guilty Tuesday of violating labour union laws,
with prosecutors saying they had ordered subordinates to cut union members’
wages and discover and exploit details of their personal lives such as
pregnancies and debt, among other tactics.
At the time Lee was Samsung Electronics’ chief financial officer, and both
men have been members of the now-disbanded Future Strategy Office, its key
decision-making body.
The firm issued a joint statement Wednesday with construction affiliate
Samsung C&T — which has also had executives convicted of violating union
laws — acknowledging their errors.
“We humbly accept that the companies’ understanding and view towards
labour unions in the past fell short of society’s expectations,” they said.
They pledged to ensure no repetition, adding: “We will endeavour to build
a forward-looking and productive labour management relationship based on the
respect for our employees.”
Samsung’s founder Lee Byung-chul, who died in 1987, was adamantly opposed
to unions, saying he would never allow them “until I have dirt over my eyes”.
Labour campaigners say that over the years about 240 people have suffered
from work-related cancers and other illnesses after being employed at Samsung
semiconductor and display factories, with around 80 of them dying — many of
them young women.
One victim’s father, Hwang Sang-ki, has said: “My daughter died because
Samsung had no unions”.