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posted by janrinok on Tuesday October 25 2016, @01:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the capitalism-rocks! dept.

El Reg reports

A leaked presentation to Samsung executives has provided further insight into the company's damaged internal culture.

The PowerPoint document focuses on strategies to prevent the creation of labor unions at the South Korean company and takes a very aggressive stance, treating employees as enemies, and suggesting "countermeasures", as well as ways to "dominate employees".

It also talks about "punishing" union leaders, isolating "troublesome" employees, and "inducing internal conflicts" as a way of intimidating employees and preventing the creation of unions. The presentation is also dismissive of labor laws and government ministers that have proposed changes to protect employees.

The presentation [PPT] [PDF] is dated 2012, but appears to have been used repeatedly by Samsung executives up until two years ago. It was unearthed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which drew a direct line between the approach demonstrated in the presentation and the recent aborted launch of the Galaxy Note 7 due to exploding batteries.

"Inhumane conditions are rife" at the company, the ITUC reports, noting that Samsung employees are overworked, under-paid, and forced to suffer appalling conditions, including "standing for 11 to 12 hours, verbal and physical abuse, severe age and gender discrimination, and lack of worker safety".

It quotes one worker who claimed that during an intense three-month period in the run-up to the release of a Galaxy tablet she slept only two or three hours a night and had to give up breastfeeding her three-month-old baby as a result.

One [slide] lists examples of employee deaths that have been attributed to overwork. One employee, Kim, killed himself and the presentation notes that he had worked 100 hours of overtime each month for nine months. A widow of a manager is quoted as saying he "died from overwork".


Ed Note: Title changed to more accurately reflect content. 0700UTC

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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 25 2016, @02:01PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday October 25 2016, @02:01PM (#418546) Journal

    Wow, FatPhil, I am glad you posted that. I was once interviewed to head up IT at some division of Samsung's. They turned me down because I don't speak enough Korean; I only speak enough to drink soju with my father-in-law. For years I've kicked myself for not having put more time into learning that language, for having missed out on the posh life in Korea I and my family might have had, a car with a driver, a palatial home, endless soju and Korean BBQ, all the perqs.

    You freed me of all that. Now I know we dodged a bullet.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @09:39PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @09:39PM (#418723)

    You forgot to mention Korean pussy.