Presidential Award for Labor-Management Culture to Samyang Hwaseong and SK Tree Chem, which created a win-win workplace

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 12th that it had selected 10 excellent companies that overcame crises by creating a win-win workplace based on trust and cooperation between labor and management as winners of this year's Labor-Management Culture Awards.

The President's Award went to Samyang Chemical Co., Ltd.'s Jeonju Plant and SK Tree Chem Co., Ltd., and the Prime Minister's Award went to Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation and Hyolim Industrial Co., Ltd.

The Minister of Employment and Labor's Award was awarded to Dong-A Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Cheonan Plant, DHL Korea Co., Ltd., Myungjin Logics Co., Ltd., Samsung Bioepis Co., Ltd., TIC Co., Ltd., and Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning.

Samyang Chemical Co., Ltd.'s Jeonju plant was evaluated as having worked together to protect the company and jobs by making concessions between labor and management even in a situation where the management crisis was deepening due to the international economic downturn and oversupply of petrochemical products from China.

The labor union first proposed forming a labor-management win-win organization (TFT). Then, when the company proposed a wage increase despite difficult business conditions, the union voluntarily decided to freeze wages.

Since then, labor and management have reviewed 58 agenda items related to wage and welfare adjustments and employment security, and are working as a team to share management information, improve productivity, and reduce costs, the Ministry of Labor said.

SK Tree Chem Co., Ltd. suffered from labor-management conflict and a large-scale fire broke out, but labor and management worked together to overcome the crisis and transform into a cooperative labor-management relationship.

In 2024, when a large-scale fire caused property damage worth more than 10 billion won, a dedicated joint recovery organization between labor and management was created and the recovery period, originally expected to be 3 months, was shortened to 2 months.

As a result, workplaces that suffered from long-term conflicts shortened the negotiation period by 73% last year compared to the previous year, and concluded wage and collective agreements without disputes this year as well.

The companies selected this time for the Labor-Management Culture Award will be awarded on the 23rd of next month.

Award-winning companies will be exempted from regular labor inspections for the next three years and will receive preferential interest rates for bank loans.

Minister of Labor Kim Young-hoon said, “The government will also actively support so that the labor-management culture of coexistence can spread throughout the industry and create a warm workplace where labor is respected.”