Affiliates of Samsung at near-zero rate; Hyundai at 75%
The rate of employee unionization at the listed affiliates of South Korea's top 10 conglomerates stood at about 38 percent, three times higher than the average unionization rate of national companies. But by conglomerate there was extreme difference: the unionization rate for Samsung Group was nearly zero percent, whereas the rate for Hyundai Automotive Group stood at 75 percent. According to several reports by the Financial Supervisory Service on November 26, out of 433,349 employees at 76 affiliates of the nation's top 10 conglomerates, 165,776 workers, or 38.3 percent, joined unions. The figure is 3.7 times higher than the overall national unionization rate of 10.3 percent as of the end of 2005. By conglomerate, the top rate was held by 10 affiliates of Hyundai Automotive Group at 75.47 percent, followed by Hyundai Heavy Industries Group (71.4 percent) and Hanjin Group (66.34 percent). In contrast, the rate for the 15 listed affiliates of Samsung Group stood at 0.5 percent. There are no unions in nine affiliates including Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI, Samsung Corp., Jeil Industries, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Techwin, Samsung Engineering, Cheil Communications and Credu.The rate of employee unionization at GS Group was 17.57 percent, the second lowest after Samsung Group. The rate for SK Group was 45.69 percent, followed by Hanwha (42 percent), LG (40.59 percent), Doosan (38.45 percent), and Lotte (34.5 percent). Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
