GLOBAL unions exposed Samsung’s union-busting yesterday as the South Korean electronics giant appointed its founder’s grandson to its board.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) revealed details of a leaked PowerPoint presentation — intended for the eyes of corporate bosses only — decreeing specific “countermeasures” to be used to “dominate employees.”

The move by former vice-chairman Lee Jae Yong — chairman Lee Kun Hee’s only son — to a bigger role comes at a crucial time for South Korea’s most powerful “chaebol” or family-owned conglomerate.

Investors will will want to know how Mr Lee, whose grandfather founded Samsung in 1938, plans to win back trust after the Note 7, launched as Samsung’s answer to the latest iPhone, was withdrawn less than two months after its launch.

The company reported dozens of reports of fires of both the original Note 7s and replacement phones handed to customers who handed in recalled phones.

“He has never successfully demonstrated that he is eligible to be a board member,” said Law and Business Research Centre head Lee Jee Soo. “Just because he was born as the son of Lee Kun Hee, he is joining the board.”

The ITUC pointed out the elder Mr Lee once reportedly declared the company would “recognise trade unions over my dead body!”

The leaked presentation instructs Samsung managers to “isolate employees,” “punish leaders,” and “induce internal conflicts.”

The Asia Resource Monitor Centre has reported instances of grave abuse, where Samsung “tapped workers’ phones, followed them and approached their families with threats.”

It said Samsung’s “no-union” policy affects the entire Asian electronics industry, “because Samsung Electronics intervenes actively to prevent the formation of unions at its suppliers.”