A general strike by the Samsung Electronics union is increasingly becoming a reality. Attention is now turning to the court. Because post-adjustment between labor and management collapsed after the union asked to halt it, the court's decision on Samsung Electronics' request for an injunction to "ban unlawful industrial action" will determine whether the strike proceeds and to what extent. Separately from whether the injunction is granted, Samsung Electronics is said to be reviewing various response scenarios for a union general strike.
The Suwon District Court on the 13th held the second hearing date for the injunction request case filed by Samsung Electronics against the union to ban unlawful industrial action. On the 16th of last month, Samsung Electronics filed for an injunction to ban illegal strikes by the Samsung Group supra-enterprise union's Samsung Electronics chapter (supra-enterprise union), which holds a majority, and the second-largest union, the National Samsung Electronics Union (Jeonsamno).
At the hearing, the court heard the union's position. Choi Seung-ho, Chairperson of the supra-enterprise union, said, "We emphasized to the bench that we will not engage in unlawful industrial actions such as threats or violence," adding, "We also conveyed that only office sit-ins, not occupation of production facilities, are planned." He added, "We understand that management also takes the position that a (lawful) strike is not a problem."
Previously, on the 29th of last month, the court held the first hearing date and heard Samsung Electronics' grounds for filing the injunction. After hearing both sides, the court plans to decide whether to grant the injunction no later than the 20th of this month, a day before the general strike begins.
At the first hearing date, Samsung Electronics explained the need to maintain and operate safety protection facilities normally. It also conveyed that major semiconductor corporations in the United States, Japan and Germany had no facility shutdowns due to industrial action, and that if facilities are shut down, expensive equipment would be damaged, inevitably delaying the timing of business resumption. It further argued that a minimum number of personnel to keep wafers, the raw semiconductor disks, from being damaged must be deployed regardless of the dispute. Samsung Electronics believes that if the union proceeds with the dispute, there is a high possibility of unlawful acts such as coercing members to participate in the strike.
The Korea Shareholder Movement Headquarters, a minority shareholder group, visited the Suwon District Court on the hearing date and submitted the first petition urging the court to grant the injunction. Issuing a nationwide shareholder appeal, the group said, "The performance-based bonus compensation system is not a simple issue of distribution; it is a matter of the company's core financial principles to maintain a long-term balance among investment, employment and dividends," and requested, "We ask the court to prevent national losses through a swift decision to grant the injunction, along with a deep legal review."
◇ Possibility the court partially grants the injunction
Ahead of the court's second hearing date, Samsung Electronics labor and management held a second post-adjustment meeting at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) in the Government Complex Sejong starting at 10 a.m. the previous day. Discussions ran for 17 hours but ultimately failed to reach an agreement. That was because the Samsung Electronics union asked to halt before the NLRC's final mediation proposal was issued.
As the Samsung Electronics union declared the breakdown of talks again in the adjustment conducted under NLRC mediation, this injunction to ban unlawful industrial action has effectively become the only way to block the general strike. In the industry, there is speculation that the court will conclude by partially granting the injunction rather than ordering a complete halt to the strike. That is because the Incheon District Court previously issued a partial grant ruling on an injunction sought by Samsung Biologics to ban unlawful industrial action by its union.
On the 23rd of last month, the Incheon District Court limited the strike to only three of the nine tasks for which Samsung Biologics requested a strike ban: ▲ ultrafiltration and diafiltration (UFDF) ▲ drug substance filling (DS filling) ▲ related buffer preparation and supply. The court said "active production activities" must be distinguished from "work to prevent deterioration and spoilage," ruling that "industrial action cannot be restricted solely because the economic loss is large."
While it is difficult to compare one-to-one the semiconductor processes for which Samsung Electronics requested a strike ban with Samsung Biologics' case, there are similarities in terms of the need for work to prevent deterioration or spoilage. Accordingly, there is an outlook that the Suwon District Court will be more likely to specify and limit only work in semiconductor lines that is directly connected to actual product or equipment damage or safety risks, rather than imposing a blanket ban on the strike itself.
A legal industry source said, "The realistic outcome Samsung Electronics can expect is also a partial grant on specific unlawful acts, rather than a blanket ban on the general strike." The interpretation is that, for management as well, the best outcome could be to minimize the strike's scope by banning actions such as ▲ occupying production facilities ▲ obstructing access ▲ interfering with work by nonstrikers ▲ obstructing operation of safety protection facilities ▲ halting wafer deterioration-prevention work.
◇ The key is defining the scope of essential personnel… emergency mediation could be invoked
According to the industry, Samsung Electronics is separately reviewing practically feasible response measures with a general strike in mind. Options being discussed include reaching a separate agreement with the union on minimum maintenance work.
On the 17th of last month, Samsung Electronics sent an official letter to the union sharing specific details of the personnel needed for normal operation of safety protection facilities. It provided advance notice of personnel who could not attend the "resolution rally for struggle" the union held on the 23rd of last month at the Pyeongtaek campus in Gyeonggi Province. An industry source familiar with internal circumstances at Samsung Electronics said, "Even if a general strike proceeds, Samsung Electronics is preparing measures, in consultation with the union, to restrict participation by essential personnel in the strike to minimize damage by preventing safety accidents."
Samsung Electronics is also said to be seeking ways to maintain production processes as much as possible by focusing on internal personnel such as nonunion members, managers and nonstrikers. It is also reported to be discussing adjustments to production plans, such as modulating wafer input volumes for certain processes to prevent damage to key equipment.
Some observers are also mentioning the possibility that the Minister of Employment and Labor could invoke emergency mediation. The emergency mediation authority is a system based on Article 76 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, an exceptional adjustment procedure the Minister of Employment and Labor can invoke when industrial action threatens the daily lives of the public or is likely to significantly harm the economy. If emergency mediation is invoked, industrial action is banned for 30 days, and NLRC adjustment and arbitration procedures proceed. If no agreement is reached during this period, the NLRC Chairperson will decide ex officio to refer the case to arbitration. Emergency mediation was invoked in the 1969 Daehan Shipbuilding strike, the 1993 Hyundai Motor strike, and the Asiana Airlines and Korean Air Lines pilot strikes in July and December 2005.
Semiconductors account for about 35% of Korea's exports. The Korea Development Institute (KDI) analyzed that if semiconductor exports fall by 10%, gross domestic product (GDP) could decrease by 0.78%. An industry source said, "Global big-tech customers such as AMD and Nvidia consider supply chain resilience a key evaluation item, so production disruptions from a strike could immediately lead to a loss of global market position," adding, "Given the status of semiconductors as a national key industry, there is an assessment that there is sufficient justification for emergency mediation."