[ED] Tide is high for deal

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Tide is high for deal

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Published

May 20, 2026 8:23 pm

KST

Gov't should consider exercising emergency arbitration powers

Samsung Electronics Labor Union leader Choi Seung-ho, left, and Yeo Myung-koo, vice president of the People Team at Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions division, are seen arriving for mediated talks at the National Labor Relations Commission in Sejong, Wednesday. The talks fell through. Yonhap

Samsung Electronics and its unionized workers' days of intense talks with management to prevent a strike show the impact a walkout would have on the economy. After the talks broke down Wednesday morning, they resumed again with renewed urgency ahead of Thursday's planned strike. The labor minister stepped in to mediate as the two sides attempted to reach an agreement.

Management and labor at the nation's tech giant have differed primarily over whether to keep a 50 percent cap on bonuses and formalize a percentage of operating profit to be allocated as bonuses, as well as other issues. The government mediation committee of the National Labor Relations Commission offered a proposal that union leader Choi Seung-ho said the union accepted while management withheld its agreement.

The labor minister is assisting with mediation to avert the strike, while reluctant to exercise the government's emergency arbitration powers. The two sides should reach a deal.

A strike at Samsung Electronics would detrimentally impact not just the national economy but also the global supply chain. Samsung accounts for about 14 percent of the nation's GDP and about a quarter of its exports. The Bank of Korea warned that a potential industrial action could shave off 0.5 percentage points from its forecast of 2 percent growth this year, and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said it would be "fatal" to the national economy. Samsung is the world's largest memory chip manufacturer, with clients around the globe.

These last-ditch negotiations must succeed for the stability of the Korean economy and to ensure the global supply of chips in what is rapidly becoming an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven economy.

The strife that has been going on at Samsung for several months now is poised to spill over to other industries. The threat of a walkout over bonus payments is not limited to Samsung Electronics. Samsung Biologics saw a five-day strike in early May. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Kakao workers are also asking for higher bonus payments, with the latter moving toward a walkout.

Another likely spillover effect from the Samsung labor dispute is discussion about how Korea's core industries will

balance prosperity with responsibility, labor rights with economic sustainability and short-term demands with long-term national interest, as

we wrote previously

. The bonuses that Samsung employees hope to receive go as high as hundreds of millions of won, up to a decade's worth of annual salary for the average Korean worker. To some extent, the call for equal distribution for employees in the semiconductor division reflects Korea's rigid labor market.

The semiconductor industry is a pivotal growth engine for Korea. Developments in AI have led to record-high first-quarter earnings this year for Samsung and SK hynix. Chips are also an industry requiring massive investments in research and development in order to maintain a leading technological edge. As the company and its workers continue to seek a fair resolution, they should discuss how to set up a model that ensures labor rights and economic sustainability.

There are also concerns being raised about the "yellow envelope law," under which tens of thousands of employees at subcontracted companies can make labor-related requests from primary contractors — in this case, Samsung Electronics.

Labor strife over bonus payments encapsulates manifold issues in the labor market, including payment and distribution, that an economy and society pursuing AI-driven economic and technological shifts must debate and consider. Korea should tackle these issues from a rational perspective and open minds.

President Lee Jae Myung stressed a few days ago that "labor should be respected as much as business and management rights should be respected just as labor rights are." The tide is high for a deal.