Samsung Heir Apologizes For Corruption and Union-Busting Scandals (nytimes.com) 18
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: The de facto head of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, apologized on Wednesday for the corruption and union-busting scandals that have bedeviled his conglomerate, declaring that he will be the last of his family members to lead the South Korean corporate empire. During a nationally televised news conference, Mr. Lee, 51, said Samsung would also respect its workers' right to organize independent labor unions, ending its decades-old "no-union" philosophy. That stance was often cited as one of the key reasons Samsung could grow so rapidly while other conglomerates, like Hyundai, were often crippled by militant labor activism at their work sites.
"Samsung has not strictly complied with laws and ethics," Mr. Lee said with a bow during the news conference at a Samsung headquarters in Seoul. "Although it has been lauded for being first rate in technology and products, Samsung has faced harsh criticism." "This is my fault," he said. "I apologize." Over the decades, Samsung and its top leaders have often apologized for bribery, tax-evasion and other crimes. But corruption scandals have continued at Samsung, South Korea's largest and most profitable business group. Both analysts and critics have said those scandals stemmed largely from the Lee family's attempts to ensure a father-to-son transfer of managerial power over Samsung at all costs, even if that meant breaking laws and buying political influence. On Wednesday, Mr. Lee accepted such criticism. "All of the problems basically started from this succession issue," he said. "From now on, I will make sure that no controversy happens again regarding the succession issue." Mr. Lee said he had no intention of bequeathing managerial powers to his own children and vowed to give professional managers greater roles in Samsung. In 2017, Lee Jae-yong was charged with bribery and embezzlement in connection with the corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's president Park Geun-hye. He was later freed from prison after an appeals court reduced and suspended his five-year prison sentence.
"Samsung has not strictly complied with laws and ethics," Mr. Lee said with a bow during the news conference at a Samsung headquarters in Seoul. "Although it has been lauded for being first rate in technology and products, Samsung has faced harsh criticism." "This is my fault," he said. "I apologize." Over the decades, Samsung and its top leaders have often apologized for bribery, tax-evasion and other crimes. But corruption scandals have continued at Samsung, South Korea's largest and most profitable business group. Both analysts and critics have said those scandals stemmed largely from the Lee family's attempts to ensure a father-to-son transfer of managerial power over Samsung at all costs, even if that meant breaking laws and buying political influence. On Wednesday, Mr. Lee accepted such criticism. "All of the problems basically started from this succession issue," he said. "From now on, I will make sure that no controversy happens again regarding the succession issue." Mr. Lee said he had no intention of bequeathing managerial powers to his own children and vowed to give professional managers greater roles in Samsung. In 2017, Lee Jae-yong was charged with bribery and embezzlement in connection with the corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's president Park Geun-hye. He was later freed from prison after an appeals court reduced and suspended his five-year prison sentence.
Future is AI (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, people are inefficient. Let's eliminate them from the loop.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Future is AI (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I can appreciate your perspective and is a classic neoliberal view. However, neoliberalism has demonstrated significant deficits in terms of creating a well-functioning society with equal opportunity for all. Your perspective describes an economic system which eventually hollows out the middle of an economy and stratified it into lowly paid minions and extremely highly paid caste.
One thing of note is that doesn't come up in economic conversations in neoliberal, conservative, and libertarian circles is tha
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
You can choose to spend more at places that give their employers more.
Only if you're comparatively rich. Why do most people shop at Walmart rather than Whole Foods? Because that's all they can afford.
employees can pick to choose for someone paying them enough or not enough.
Employees WITH IN-DEMAND SKILLS and savings and living in an area where there are multiple employers looking for those skills can take a chance at job hopping. Any clue what percentage of the population that includes? You and I are in the elite, although you may be too blind to realize that.
Are you going to leave an estate worth more than $5 million? No? Then your heirs won
Similar argument can be made for a basic income (Score:2)
https://fortune.com/2017/09/03... [fortune.com]
"A team of economists from the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute conclude in a new research study that implementing a guaranteed income of $1,000 a month for all Americans would accelerate U.S. economic growth by an additional 12.56% over eight years if it were financed by increased federal debt. If the same program were financed by increased redistributive taxes, the growth impact would be smaller, producing an additional 2.62% of GDP growth over 8 years. But the federal def
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah I know /. is super liberal these days
LOL Slashdot is slightly to the right of the Mussolini.
Re: (Score:3)
The way the political climate in the US is going it won't be long and that will be the definition of "liberal". Richard Nixon would be too liberal to run on the Democratic ticket now.
Re: (Score:2)
Richard "wage and price control" Nixon, who, in 1960, was to the left of JFK economically?
Suuuuuure (Score:2)
Samsung Heir Apologizes For Corruption and Union-Busting Scandals
The de facto head of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong said, "This is my fault," he said. "I apologize."
TRANSLATION: "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry I got caught."
Bullshit narrative (Score:2)
The well-being of a union is directly tied to the long-term wellbeing of the company. If the company does better, so do the union members. As opposed to the executive class who don't care if the company goes under if they rake in bonuses and dividends in the short term.
Well, the apology is not accepted, is it? (Score:1)
Without acceptance, an apology does not free you from guilt yet, you know?