313 Samsung Electronics Employees File Lawsuit to Nullify Transfer Order, Citing Failure to Provide Explanation

313 Union Members and Employees Sue Samsung Electronics

Super Enterprise Union Provides Direct Legal Support

The Samsung Electronics branch of the Samsung Group Super Enterprise Labor Union (Super Enterprise Union) has filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics to confirm the invalidity of a personnel transfer.

The union claims that Samsung Electronics transferred 313 employees from its semiconductor packaging (PKG) development organization in December of last year without consulting with them.

Yonhap News Agency

According to Super Enterprise Union on September 11, 313 union members and employees belonging to the PKG development team filed a lawsuit this morning to confirm the invalidity of the transfer.

The Super Enterprise Union stated, "This lawsuit is based on the grounds that the company failed to fulfill its obligation under the collective agreement to give an explanation when reassigning union members. It also seeks to confirm that the transfer order is invalid because the company did not consult the union, despite the disadvantages experienced by union members, such as changing their workplace. We will continue to respond firmly to protect our members if the company continues to violate the collective agreement and proceeds with transfers without bona fide negotiations with the union."

In the 'PKG Development Team Organizational Culture Survey' conducted by the Super Enterprise Union, all respondents—315 out of 394 team members, excluding executives—gave a negative answer (scoring zero) to the question of whether the company provided sufficient prior or subsequent explanations regarding the purpose of the restructuring and changes in treatment. The response rate for this survey was 80%.

Meanwhile, since the wage agreement was reached in May, the Super Enterprise Union has experienced a large-scale exodus, causing its membership to plunge to about 53,250. This is more than 10,000 short of the 64,500 needed to maintain legal status as the representative of workers.

For this reason, it is being interpreted that the union is seeking to improve public sentiment by actively supporting the lawsuit for 313 PKG development personnel whose affiliation was forcibly changed at the end of last year, as well as addressing complaints from the non-memory division.

However, the response from employees of the System LSI and Foundry divisions is reportedly negative. During the wage and collective bargaining negotiations in May, the agreement was reached mainly with the memory division, which has fostered deep distrust of the Super Enterprise Union among non-memory members.

On Samsung Electronics’ anonymous internal bulletin boards and open chat rooms, dissatisfaction continues among employees regarding the actions of the Super Enterprise Union’s leadership. One employee expressed concern that, "Isn't the non-memory division once again being used as a 'launch pad' simply to boost the numbers needed for a majority by the memory-centric leadership?" Another employee from the non-memory division pointed out, "It will be difficult for non-memory employees to support the union again when they only reach out when in need, expecting us to join unconditionally without any real engagement."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.