Choi Seung-ho, the head of the Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group United Union, speaks to reporters after attending a hearing at Suwon District Court in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on May 13. [YONHAP]
Samsung Electronics’ labor union warned that it is “no longer considering additional negotiations with management” until the end of the proposed general strike after talks that began on Tuesday were suspended on Wednesday morning.
The two sides engaged in a grueling 17-hour discussion but failed to reach an agreement after the labor union walked away from the table. The union had previously threatened to launch a general strike on May 21 if an agreement wasn’t reached by that date.
The union claims that management failed to accept its longstanding demands to remove the cap on performance bonuses and institutionalize the compensation system.
“There has been no progress at all with the management’s proposals over the past five months of negotiations, including during the postmediation process,” said Choi Seung-ho, the head of the Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group United Union. “At this point, we no longer see any reason to continue discussions.”
Choi made the remarks to reporters at the Suwon District Court on Wednesday after attending the second hearing in a case involving an injunction sought by management to ban the union’s potential illegal strike actions.
“We spent 16 out of the 17 hours of mediation simply waiting around,” he said. “We declared the negotiations over because management kept extending the mediation without making any meaningful changes to its proposal, which appeared to be an attempt to weaken momentum for a general strike.”
Choi Seung-ho, the head of the Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group United Union, speaks to the press amid ongoing mediations with management in Sejong on May 12. [YONHAP]
The union also pushed back against concerns that a strike could damage semiconductor wafers due to disruptions in production.
“There are many ways to prevent wafer deterioration,” Choi said. “Arguing that production must continue to prevent such damage is the wrong approach.”
As of Wednesday morning, approximately 42,000 workers had reportedly pledged to join the strike, according to the Samsung Group United Union. The union projects that at least 50,000 workers will ultimately participate in the strike.
“Now that we have rightfully secured the right to strike, we will carry out related actions in a lawful manner,” Choi said. “There will be no threats or acts of violence, and we will not occupy any production lines or facilities beyond office spaces.”
Members of Samsung Electronics’ labor union hold a large-scale rally near the company’s Pyeongtaek campus in Gyeonggi on the afternoon of April 23. [JOONGANG ILBO]
Choi also dismissed criticism that performance bonuses cannot legally serve as grounds for strike action.
“Performance bonuses have effectively reached the level of wages,” he said. “Both the National Labor Relations Commission and management told us there was no legal issue. If there were, we would have been informed earlier that our demands were not possible.”
Regarding the possibility of the government invoking its emergency arbitration powers — a rarely used measure that the labor minister can impose when a strike is deemed likely to significantly disrupt people’s daily lives or damage the national economy — Choi said the union was “not considering that scenario.”
“The government’s position, as we understand it, is that workers should fight for what we want, and we are doing so through lawful labor action,” he said. “We have already lowered our demands during both the original mediation and the postmediation process in an effort to reach an agreement [with management].”
Before attending the court hearing, Choi also addressed management’s concerns over institutionalizing the performance bonus system.
The exterior of Samsung Electronics' headquarters in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on March 18 [NEWS1]
“We proposed tying performance bonuses to a percentage of operating profit. So if management does not make a profit, then employees would naturally not receive bonuses,” Choi said. “[Management] can’t argue that SK hynix, which uses the same system [as our proposal], has become inflexible.”
He also pointed to the compensation gap between Samsung Electronics workers and those at its rival, chipmaker SK hynix. Last year, SK hynix became the first major Korean company to agree, at its union’s request, to set aside 10 percent of operating profit for an employee bonus fund.
“The [gap] between us [...] is exactly why [Samsung] is being called a ‘training ground for SK hynix,’” Choi said. The nickname was given in recent months as Samsung employees are increasingly considering leaving for SK hynix to receive better compensation.
“[The performance bonus system] is clearly something that can be improved and institutionalized,” Choi said. “It is difficult to accept management’s proposal that only the [semiconductor] division should receive a one-time special bonus.”
The union now plans to proceed with an 18-day general strike beginning May 21, as previously announced.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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