Samsung Biologics Union Holds First Rally: "Strike Set for May 1 if Disputes Persist"

Union Demands 14% Wage Increase
and Prior Labor-Management Agreements on Hiring and Promotions

On the afternoon of April 22, the Samsung Biologics Coexistence Labor Union held the company’s first-ever large-scale protest rally in front of the Songdo plant in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. The union announced that unless an agreement is reached with management on wage and collective bargaining negotiations, it plans to launch a full-scale strike starting May 1.

Aerial view of Samsung BioLogics Plant 4 in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. Samsung BioLogics

According to the union, around 2,000 members participated in the rally, which began at noon. Previously, labor and management held 13 rounds of wage and collective bargaining talks and even went through mediation by the Labor Relations Commission, but ultimately failed to reach an agreement. The union’s demands include an average wage increase of 14%, a 30 million won incentive payment for each employee, and an allocation of company shares over a three-year period. Additionally, the union is calling for prior labor-management agreements on all personnel systems, such as hiring and promotions, as well as management rights. In contrast, management has proposed a 6.2% wage increase and maintains that it cannot accept demands for agreements on personnel and management rights.

In his speech at the rally, union leader Park Jaeseong stated, “This struggle goes beyond resolving a few issues; it is a fight to change the decision-making structure itself,” emphasizing, “If the company does not change, we will proceed with a full-scale strike on May 1.”

In preparation for a possible strike, Samsung Biologics filed for a court injunction on April 1 to prohibit union industrial action. The company argues that, due to the nature of biopharmaceutical manufacturing, if production is halted even once, the entire batch must be discarded, so essential operations must be maintained. Management estimates the direct losses from a potential strike at approximately 640 billion won.

As the labor-management conflict intensifies, concerns are growing within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. This is because the greatest strength Samsung Biologics has built in the global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) market—its supply chain stability—could be undermined. Major regulatory agencies, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), deem pharmaceuticals compromised if the integrity of the manufacturing process is violated, regardless of whether actual quality issues are found. There is growing concern that a strike could fundamentally threaten the company’s core competitiveness in client acquisition.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.