Court Partially Grants Samsung Electronics' Injunction to Prohibit Industrial Action... 100 Million Won Penalty Per Day for Violations

Suwon District Court:
“Disaster Prevention Systems and Wafer Deterioration Prevention Must Be Maintained at Normal Levels”

The court has partially accepted Samsung Electronics' request for an injunction to prohibit illegal industrial action by labor unions. The court recognized the maintenance of disaster prevention facilities at semiconductor plants as "operation of safety protection facilities" and efforts to prevent wafer contamination as "security work." It ordered that the usual level of personnel and operational scale must be maintained even during a strike. This has, to some extent, placed restrictions on the general strike scheduled by the union for May 21.

According to the legal community, on May 18, the 31st Civil Division of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge Shin Woojeong) partially granted Samsung Electronics’ request for an injunction to prohibit illegal industrial action against two unions: the Samsung Group Enterprise Union Samsung Electronics Branch (Enterprise Union) and the National Samsung Electronics Union (National Samsung Union).

The court defined the scope of "normal maintenance and operation of safety protection facilities" and "security work" to prevent product contamination, imposing an obligation to operate the plant with the same level of personnel as on regular weekdays or weekends and holidays, even during industrial action. Regarding the disaster prevention, exhaust, and drainage facilities presented by management, the court determined that, in view of each facility’s characteristics and structure, they all correspond to safety protection facilities.

In addition, work such as preventing damage to facilities and wafer contamination was also deemed "security work" under Article 38, Paragraph 2 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. The court stated, "These tasks must also be performed at the same level as usual, even during the period of industrial action."

The court ordered financial penalties if the unions violate these obligations. For each day of violation, each union must pay 100 million won to management, and key union executives must pay 10 million won each. The court also accepted management’s request to prohibit occupation of major facilities. It prohibited the Enterprise Union and the branch chief A from occupying all or part of the designated facilities, as well as installing locks or obstructing employee access.

However, the court partially dismissed the rest of management’s requests. Management had asked the court to prohibit "acts such as intimidation of union members or urging participation in the strike," but the court found that the earlier prohibition on facility occupation already largely achieved the intended purpose and that further restrictions were unnecessary.

With the court’s partial injunction, participation in the strike by essential safety and security personnel in the semiconductor production line is now legally restricted, preventing a catastrophic production shutdown. As a result, the scale and momentum of the Samsung Electronics general strike scheduled for May 21 are expected to be inevitably affected. Samsung Electronics labor and management are in intense conflict over the method of performance-based bonus payments amid the semiconductor supercycle. The union has announced a general strike from May 21 to June 7, for 18 days, with more than 50,000 union members expected to participate.

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