With General Strike Looming, Labor Minister Steps In... Samsung Electronics Labor-Management Talks Resume (Update)

Negotiations Resume After Post-Mediation Breakdown by the Central Labor Relations Commission on the 20th

Wage negotiations between management and labor at Samsung Electronics, which had reached the brink of a general strike following the breakdown of the Central Labor Relations Commission's second post-mediation attempt, are set to resume. Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon has stepped in as a direct mediator in these talks.

Yonhap News Agency

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on this day, "Minister Kim will directly mediate the Samsung Electronics labor-management negotiations, which will be held at 16:00 today at the Gyeonggi Regional Employment and Labor Office."

This negotiation, brokered by Minister Kim, differs from the Central Labor Relations Commission’s post-mediation process and is based on voluntary talks between management and labor. The negotiations will again include Choi Seungho, Head of the Samsung Group's Super Enterprise Union Samsung Electronics Branch, and Yeo Myung-gu, Head of the People Team for DS (Device Solutions·Semiconductor Business) representing management.

From May 18 to today, management and labor at Samsung Electronics repeatedly discussed matters during the second post-mediation process led by the Central Labor Relations Commission, but failed to narrow their differences on key issues such as the method of incentive distribution among business divisions. The Commission presented a mediation proposal that attempted to find common ground between both parties. While the union agreed to the proposal, management only expressed a reserved attitude without clarifying its acceptance, leading the Commission to declare mediation unsuccessful.

The union insisted that incentives should also be paid to non-memory business divisions within the semiconductor (DS) segment, such as the deficit-ridden System LSI and Foundry businesses. In contrast, management maintained that doing so would fundamentally undermine the company’s management principle of "rewarding only where there are results."

With the date for the general strike just one day away and the breakdown of post-mediation, the possibility of an actual strike at Samsung Electronics has increased significantly. There are also heightened expectations that the government may invoke emergency mediation powers to prohibit the strike and enforce compulsory arbitration. President Lee Jaemyung stated on X (formerly Twitter), "Labor should be respected as much as business, and management rights should be respected as much as labor rights," but also emphasized, "Although the current Constitution guarantees all citizens' fundamental rights, they may be restricted for public welfare as long as the essential content is not infringed," thus making it clear that the invocation of emergency mediation powers remains a possibility.

In this context, it is interpreted that Minister Kim has stepped in directly to encourage continued dialogue between both parties and to promote a settlement until the very end. Hong Kyeongui, spokesperson for the Ministry of Employment and Labor, stated, "The government will provide maximum support, in whatever form necessary, to ensure the issue is resolved through voluntary negotiations between labor and management until the last moment." Regarding the invocation of emergency mediation powers, he added, "It is premature to mention specifics at this stage."

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