(Yonhap)
The South Korean government may have to invoke emergency arbitration if labor unions at Samsung Electronics Co. go ahead with a planned general strike on May 21, according to Kim Jung-kwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources.
In a post on social media on Thursday, Kim expressed concern over the unions‘ plan to launch a full-scale strike starting May 21 if there is no agreement with management, and urged both sides to resume dialogue as soon as possible.
“Considering the gravity of this matter and the unimaginable ripple effects it could cause, a strike must be prevented under any circumstances,” Kim said. “As industry minister, I believe emergency arbitration would be unavoidable if a strike occurs.”
Emergency arbitration is a system under which the Minister of Employment and Labor can forcibly suspend strike action for 30 days and initiate mediation when strike actions by labor unions seriously threaten the national economy.
Kim estimated that disruptions to wafer processing alone could result in damages of up to 100 trillion won ($66.98 billion).
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