As labor and management at Samsung Electronics began the second post-mediation on the 18th at the National Labor Relations Commission in Sejong (the commission), a court issued a ruling unfavorable to the union at the same time. With the court largely granting Samsung Electronics' request for an injunction to ban illegal industrial action, even if the union pushes ahead with a general strike on the 21st, it will be difficult to inflict a real blow on production sites.
The union's biggest bargaining leverage, the so-called "strike card," wobbled the moment it sat down at the table. With the union taking the final seat at the bargaining table, attention is on whether it will stick to its demand to institutionalize performance bonuses and keep playing the "chicken game" to the end, or take a step back for practical gains, as the second post-mediation unfolds that day.
◇ Court effectively sides with management… Union's calculus grows complicated over general strike
The 31st Civil Division of the Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Shin Woo-jeong) on the morning of the day largely granted Samsung Electronics' application for an injunction to ban illegal industrial action against the supra-enterprise union's Samsung Electronics chapter and the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union. The bench said, "The debtors (the unions) must not suspend, abolish, or interfere with keeping and operating safety and protective facilities during the period of industrial action with the same level of staffing, operating hours, operating scale, and duty of care as under normal circumstances (weekdays or weekends and holidays), nor may they cause their members to engage in such acts."
In particular, it made clear that work to prevent damage to work facilities and to prevent wafer deterioration must proceed at the same level as before the industrial action. It also banned the supra-enterprise union and Chairperson Choi Seung-ho from occupying facilities, installing locks, and obstructing workers' access.
The court based its decision on Article 38, Paragraph 2 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. From the clause, "Work to prevent damage to work facilities or deterioration or spoilage of raw materials and products must be performed normally even during the period of industrial action," the court interpreted "normally" to mean "in proper condition without special fluctuation or trouble, that is, the same as in ordinary times." In effect, the court accepted management's argument as is.
Samsung Electronics' semiconductor production lines are designed for continuous operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In the process of stacking dozens of circuit layers on a wafer, the moment it stops at a particular step, the entire batch of wafers in process becomes defective. In the semiconductor industry, people say that "if a certain share of process personnel drop out, the wafers 'fly away.'" That destructive potential was the union's strongest card at the bargaining table.
But with the court ordering that wafer-protection staffing be kept at peacetime levels even during a strike, the strike card's destructive power has markedly weakened. No matter how many union members there are, given the nature of memory semiconductor fabs, if key process personnel do not leave the line and cause bottlenecks, the impact on production is effectively limited.
◇ Scope of the strike raises fears of legal battles… Will the union stick to a hard line?
The union says it will not withdraw the strike despite the injunction. Right after the second hearing, Chairperson Choi Seung-ho said, "Even if parts of the injunction are granted, lawful industrial action is not a problem." The rationale is that simple strike participation, as opposed to occupying production facilities or physical obstruction, falls outside the scope of the decision.
From the union's standpoint, that logic is not entirely wrong. The items the court dismissed did not include a ban on simple strike action itself. Dismissed items included "appeals to join industrial action through intimidation" and "facility occupation by the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union." Simple refusals to work by members and participation in rallies remain legal.
However, legal wrangling is inevitable over how far the "maintain peacetime-level staffing" order actually applies on the ground. Because mobilizing specific process personnel for rallies could be interpreted as a violation of the injunction, confusion at strike sites will be hard to avoid. A semiconductor industry official said, "In parts where it is unclear whether court-defined areas like raw material control and safety apply, there could be unlawful-acts controversy, making it harder for union leaders to make strategic decisions to disrupt production."
In this round of bargaining, the union is demanding that 15% of operating profit be fixed as the performance bonus pool and that the cap on OPI (excess profit performance incentive), tied to 50% of annual salary, be abolished and codified in a collective agreement. The union flatly rejected the compromise plan the commission offered in the first post-mediation (limited to the DS division, 12% of operating profit, temporary through 2026), saying, "The core elements—abolishing the cap by institutionalizing it, expanding stock compensation, and applying it companywide—are all missing."
Beyond the courts, the political sphere and the government are also pressuring the union. Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said in a statement the previous day, "The talks on the 18th are effectively the last chance to prevent a strike," adding, "Both labor and management must not take the gravity of this moment lightly."