Samsung Biologics says strike action has disrupted some production processes at its biologics manufacturing operations. (Courtesy of Samsung Biologics)
Talks to end the first strike at Samsung Biologics stalled on Monday, with the union saying the company made no new offer and instead asked workers to suspend all strike activity and withdraw legal disputes.
The strike, over pay, incentives, and written workplace guarantees, began last Friday and is scheduled to run until Tuesday. It is the first strike since Samsung Biologics was founded in 2011.
The morning meeting, brokered by labor authorities, lasted nearly two hours, from 10:15 a.m. to 12:10 p.m., according to the Samsung Group United Union.
The union said it rejected the company’s request because it would have meant lowering the level of protest without winning anything in return. It said further talks were expected later in the day, but that there was “no particular proposal” from the company.
“The company came empty-handed and asked for all forms of industrial action and disputes, including unfair labor practice claims, to be mutually withdrawn,” the union said in a written update sent after the meeting.
Park Jae-sung, president of the union, could not be reached by phone despite multiple calls and did not immediately provide a detailed comment on the meeting.
In text messages to Korea Biomedical Review, Park confirmed he was taking part in Monday’s talks.
Park’s whereabouts had drawn attention after Korean media reported that he had been overseas before the strike began on pre-planned leave linked to his pregnant wife. A Samsung Biologics spokesperson said the company understood Park had returned to Korea the previous day.
The union said 2,865 workers were taking part as of 5 p.m. on Monday. Samsung Biologics has 5,455 employees, and the union has about 4,000 members.
The walkout involves workers in manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance, contract development, and plant operations. Samsung Biologics said the disruption began earlier, when workers in a materials unit started a partial walkout last Tuesday, affecting supplies needed for production.
The dispute is partly about pay. Samsung Biologics says the union has demanded an average 14 percent pay rise and a one-off payment of 30 million won (about $20,000) per worker.
The company has offered a 6.2 percent wage increase and a lump-sum payment of about 6 million won, according to the company spokesperson.
The spokesperson said the company’s average annual salary was 114 million won last year, citing its 2025 business report, and described it as among the highest in the industry.
But the union says the dispute is not only about wages.
It says workers want written commitments on job security, staffing, personnel rules, and what it describes as added pressure on workers from cost-cutting. It has accused the company of repeatedly asking workers to accept management’s offer rather than holding substantive negotiations.
Samsung Biologics rejects that account. In a statement sent last Friday, the company said it had held 13 bargaining sessions and two meetings with the chief executive before suspending mediation in March.
The company said the union’s demands were difficult to accept given its financial capacity and the need to invest in future growth. It also said some demands were linked directly to personnel and management rights.
Korean media have reported that the union sought prior consent rights over hiring, evaluations, mergers, and acquisitions.
The union denies that it is trying to take over management. In a statement before Monday’s talks, it said it was seeking consultation on issues that directly affect working conditions, including evaluation and promotion standards, employment stability, staffing, and protections against disadvantage for union activity.
A high-stakes manufacturing dispute
Samsung Biologics is one of Korea’s biggest biotech exporters and a major contract manufacturer for global drugmakers. Instead of selling its own medicines, it is paid to make complex biologic drugs for other pharmaceutical companies, a business that depends on tightly controlled production using living cells.
That makes stoppages costly. If a process is interrupted at the wrong point, batches may have to be delayed, stopped, or discarded. The company reported first-quarter revenue of 1.26 trillion won and operating profit of 580.8 billion won.
The company said some batches had to be halted, including those for products related to cancer and HIV treatment. It estimated the current loss at about 150 billion won.
A company spokesperson said Samsung Biologics had estimated possible losses of about 640 billion won if all batches were halted, but said the company had limited the damage through emergency staffing, substitute workers, and a partial court injunction.
The company has not said patients have been affected.
The union says the company is shifting blame. It says any losses are reflected in management’s failure to prepare for a foreseeable disruption and to present a proposal that workers could trust.
The legal backdrop has added to the stakes.
Before the full strike, Samsung Biologics asked a court to limit the union’s strike activity. The Incheon District Court partly accepted the request, restricting walkouts in some production processes where stoppages could risk product deterioration or disposal, local media reported.
But the court did not block the strike itself. Samsung Biologics appealed the parts of the ruling that were not accepted, according to local reports.
The dispute is also being watched because it comes shortly after changes to Korea’s labor law took effect in March. The revised law expanded what can count as a labor dispute to include some management decisions that affect working conditions.
The union has cited the change in its defense of its demand for consultation on staffing, evaluations, promotions, and job security.
Samsung Biologics says it has continued talks and is trying to protect production and customer trust.
Kim Ji-hye
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