Report reveals medieval practices at Samsung

The joint report Samsung – Modern Tech Medieval Conditions reveals the appalling truth about Samsung’s no union policy, which affects the entire Asian electronics industry.

“From denying justice to the families of former employees who died from cancers caused by unsafe workplaces, to dodging tax and engaging in price-fixing cartels, one thing is constant: Samsung’s corporate culture is ruthlessly geared towards maximising profit to the detriment of the everyday lives of its workers,” said Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary.

The global high-tech manufacturer is denying workers their fundamental freedoms including the right to associate and collectively bargain for better working and living conditions.

“From the top of its supply chain down, Samsung prohibits the formation of unions by threatening to cancel contracts wherever workers organize,” added Burrow.

Samsung is one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world:

• Samsung’s affiliate companies produce around a fifth of South Korea’s total exports.
• Samsung Electronics alone posted annual revenue in 2012 of over US$183 billion, a figure exceeding the GDP of countries such as Cambodia, and Honduras.
• Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee has an estimated net worth of US$12.6 billion.
• Lee Kun-hee has been in a coma since May 2014 after he suffered a cardiac arrest. His son, Jae-yong, is the heir apparent of the Samsung Group. Samsung Electronics shareholders are due to meet on 27th October where the Samsung heir is expected to join the board.

Follow the link and support IndustriALL and ITUC protest petition to Samsung to end worker abuse and abolish its no-union policy.

To shed more light on ordinary worker life at Samsung ITUC also launched a new video called Samsung’s Secret which tells the story of one union family caught up in Samsung’s no union policy.

For further information read the ITUC and IndustriALL’s Briefing “Samsung – Modern Tech Medieval conditions”