The world’s biggest smartphone and chipmaker Samsung Electronics issued a rare apology Wednesday after its chairman was jailed for sabotaging union activities. 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. 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.

Source: The Guardian December 18, 2019 06:56 UTC