Park Jae-seong, head of the Samsung Biologics Sangsaeng Labor Union, and one other executive committee member have been referred to prosecutors for allegedly leaking company trade secrets. The union is negotiating wages and welfare benefits with management and has been staging a second partial strike.
According to industry sources on the 13th, the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency referred Park and the other official to prosecutors. The charges include leaking trade secrets under the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act and breach of trust in the course of business.
The two are accused of accessing the company's internal systems. They are also accused of attaching media-specific advertising spending records, which had been received by the public relations department, to a union struggle newsletter and distributing them. The author field in the file's document properties reportedly bore Park's name.
In May, police searched Samsung Biologics' headquarters. From internal servers and data storage facilities, they obtained system access logs and company entry records. After further investigation, they concluded that the charges were substantiated.
On the 13th, the union issued a statement rejecting the charges. "What the labor union raised as a problem is the necessity and appropriateness of public relations spending that is unrelated to the company's core business," it said. It explained that ordinary employees questioned whether unnecessary expenses had been incurred, based on tax invoices that were viewable within the internal system. The union insisted, "There is no fact that this material was distributed outside the company, to the media or competitors."
The union began its second partial strike on the 6th and the strike is expected to last about three weeks, through the 27th. Labor and management agreed to meet again on the 17th to resume negotiations.