Merck Korea vs GM employee feud sees no end

GM division to shut down on Nov. 30, closing local offices

Not even a half applied for ERP, management accused of unfair reassignment

KDPU Merck Korea chapter picketing during morning rush hour

After licensing out antihypertensive and anti-diabetic treatments, Merck Korea is finally, and completely, shutting down its General Medicine (GM) division.

 

However, an intense conflict with labor union has deepened as more than a half of the employees have not reached an agreement with the company’s management.

 

The company offering early retirement program (ERP) became highly controversial as it technically asked a certain group of employees to leave the company “voluntarily”.

 

According an industry insider on Nov.

 

13, imminent shutdown of Merck Biopharma Korea’s GM division is causing increasingly heated labor-management strife with the GM division employees.

 

Merck Korea has officially announced the closing of the GM division by the end of this month as it has sold off local sales rights of two prescription drugs to Korean pharmaceutical companies within a month.

 

On Oct.

 

11, the company closed a deal with GC Pharma to sell the sales right in Korea for an anti-diabetic drug, Glucophage.

 

And shortly after on Nov.

 

5, the company and Daewoong Pharmaceutical signed a deal over a sales right of an antihypertensive drug Concor.

 

The signed deals provide Merck Biopharma Korea to maintain the item permit, while GC Pharma and Daewoong Pharmaceutical would initiate marketing and sales activities of the products from the beginning of next year.

 

The decision was made based on the Merck headquarters’ intention to focus on accelerating growth of specialty care sector.

 

“Merck now has a new aim to strengthen specialty care pipelines on oncology, infertility and neurology sectors to become a global specialty innovator.

 

By supplying Merck’s drug products to GC Pharma and Daewoong Pharmaceutical, we would continue to contribute in improving lives of Korean patients,” said Merck Biopharma Korea General Manager Javed Alam.

 

The GM division has about two weeks left to complete the closing, but more than a half of employees and Merck Korea have not settled on a middle ground for their employment condition.

 

Representative of Merck Korea chapter of Korea Democratic Pharmaceutical Union (KDPU) informed that the management has offered ERP compensation to pay out eight month’s wage, in addition to two month’s wage times by a number of years of service.

 

Including a manager-level employee, nine out of 35 employees from GM division have applied for ERP, and other 26 are demanding the management to provide more options of employment security, such as reassignment of position.

 

According to the division shutdown schedule, offices in Gwangju, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan and other regions are also preparing to shut down and reassigning employees to Seoul office from next month, regardless of their unimaginable intercity commute.

 

Merck Korea plans to offer the employees an ERP package, and also to provide opportunities to transfer position within or out of the company.

 

Moreover, the management is offering financial support of maximum 40 million won for up to two-year MBA or master’s degree graduate school programs, and it informed there would be another call for ERP applicant.

 

However, the union claims the management asking one specific department to apply for early retirement is not so far off from them picking on a particular group of employees.

 

The union explains the ERP should be offered to everyone in the company and employees who wish to stay should get a chance to be reassigned to another department.

 

Beginning from Sept.

 

30, Merck Korea’s labor union has been protesting against the management’s decision to downsize in front of their office building.

 

And to this date, the union members are picketing during the busy commuting time every morning.

 

Head of Merck Korea chapter of KDPU, Cho Young-seok reproached, “The union has attempted to convince the management to postpone the sales right deal and to seek mutually sustainable means for the both parties, but our proposition has been denied.

 

Besides the sales license, the company should at least give employment opportunities to those who want to stay.

 

Relocating employees from closed regional offices to Seoul office is technically pushing them over to the edge to leave the company”.

 

About the issues addressed, Merck Biopharma Korea official stated, “As GM division’s regional offices are closing down soon, their employees have been reassigned to Seoul office.

 

The headquarters’ intention is to discuss various options including ERP.

 

Although the feasible number of employees cannot be specified at this moment, we plan to offer opportunities for them apply for transition to Korean pharmaceutical companies with the sold drug sales rights, or even to other divisions in the company”.