Samsung vs. LG Uplus: Union Leaders Clash Over President’s ‘Excessive Demands’ Comment

The Democratic U+ branch of the Public Transport Workers’ Union said on May 1 that it could not hide its deep regret and anger after the chair of the Samsung Electronics union told reporters and union-member online communities that the president’s comment about “excessive demands” was directed at the LG Uplus union, not Samsung.

LG Uplus’s union said in a statement that its demand to set aside 30% of operating profit for performance bonuses reflects six years of sustained struggle. Treating that long-standing demand as if it were a sudden, “excessive” request aligned with recent government sentiment, they argued, seriously undermines the value of their campaign.

They criticized that shifting blame without verifying facts erodes solidarity within the labor movement and called it cowardly to label another company’s legitimate bargaining position as “unreasonable” simply to deflect public criticism.

The LG Uplus union insisted, “Workers are not each other’s enemies.”

They warned that at a moment when the president’s remarks are being perceived as pressure on the broader labor movement, demonizing fellow unions’ demands only plays into the “labor-versus-labor” conflict frame that capital and power want. Undermining another group’s urgent needs to prove one’s own reasonableness, they said, is not genuine labor activism.

LG Uplus demanded an official apology from the Samsung Electronics union for what it called reckless remarks, and strongly urged it to stop distorting other unions’ struggles and weaponizing them as a means of self-defense.