Europe News Desk!! Samsung Electronics’ management and its employees have agreed to an average 4.1 percent pay raise for the year, while freezing the salaries of its board members amid a poor performance amid a recession and global recession. The wage increase is less than last year’s 9 percent wage increase, which was the highest in a decade, and less than initial demand from workers. The world’s biggest memory chip and smartphone maker reached an agreement with its workers’ representatives on wages and other labor policies, including reducing working hours for pregnant workers. The announcement was made internally earlier in the day, according to sources, reports Yonhap news agency. The two sides reached a settlement keeping in mind the external headwinds, which led to a quarterly profit drop of nearly 96 percent in the first quarter.
The management decided to implement last year’s salary policy for board members, effectively postponing its initial plan to increase the salary cap for board members by 17 percent. Separately, Samsung’s unionized workers, who account for about 4 percent of a total of 110,000 workers, have been engaged in wage negotiations with management since late last year. So far 10 rounds of talks have taken place between the two sides, but the differences could not be resolved. The world’s biggest memory chip and smartphone maker forecast its January-March operating profit at 600 billion won ($454.9 million), down significantly from 14.12 trillion won a year earlier. Samsung attributed the poor performance to sluggish demand for tech devices coupled with inventory adjustments by customers.
–IANS
World News Desk!!
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