SEOUL, KOREA - The management of Samsung Corning Precision Materials decided to pay 60 million won in severance pay to its employees.

 

It remains to be seen whether the workers' union would accept this offer as it had asked for 500 million won per person. Earlier Samsung Group announced that it would sell off its stake in Samsung Corning to its American joint venture partner Corning Inc. on conditions that the latter retain the current workforce with the same level of pay and benefit packages.

 

Samsung Corning said on November 25 that it had notified to the union and the workers' emergency response committee that it would pay 40 million won in severance pay and 20 million won in ten months' basic pay.

 

The company will take applications from the employees who wish to be reassigned to other affiliates within Samsung Group until the 27th. It will provide the severance pay to those employees who remain with the company only when they are unable to be relocated to any one of the three top-choice group companies out of five selections.

 

On October 23, Samsung Group announced that it would hand over its 42.45-percent stake in Samsung Corning Precision Materials to Corning in exchange for preferred stock (equivalent to a 7.4-percent stake). Once the deal is closed at the end of January next year, Samsung Corning will become a company 100 percent owned by the American glass maker.