Samsung Biologics labor and management failed to find common ground in a meeting arranged on the morning of the 4th through mediation by the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL). With a full strike continuing for a fourth day and losses from production disruptions mounting rapidly, additional talks scheduled for the afternoon are expected to be a watershed.
According to the industry on the 4th, a tripartite meeting between Samsung Biologics and the union that began at 10 a.m. and lasted about two hours under the mediation of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) Central Regional Employment and Labor Office ended without significant progress. The two sides plan to continue with additional talks in the afternoon, but the gap between their positions remains wide, leaving the prospects for an agreement uncertain.
The union said management, without a substantive revised proposal, demanded mutual withdrawal of legal actions related to industrial action and unfair labor practices, and it rejected the request. The union said, "It is a proposal favorable only to the company, and the labor union would merely lower the intensity of its industrial action without gaining anything," adding, "There is no meaningful offer so far."
Earlier, the union made clear that this meeting was not the final negotiation and had demanded that management present a substantive revised plan with a decision-maker who holds authority.
However, with working-level staff, not final decision-makers including CEO John Rim, attending the meeting, criticism emerged that the participants on both sides did not have matching decision-making authority and levels of responsibility. By contrast, Park Jae-sung, head of the Samsung Group supra-enterprise labor union's Samsung Biologics Win-Win Chapter, attended the meeting in person, unlike on the 30th of last month when he was absent due to a personal schedule.
A large gap remains between the sides over wages and bonuses. The union is demanding an average 14% wage increase, a 30 million won incentive per person, and distribution of 20% of operating profit as performance bonuses. The company, citing its capacity to pay, has proposed a 6.2% wage increase and a one-time payment of 6 million won. The two sides held 13 rounds of talks until mediation was suspended but failed to narrow the gap.
The impact of the strike is already materializing. After a partial strike from the 28th to the 30th of last month, the union launched a full strike on the 1st of this month. The company estimates that losses of about 150 billion won occurred during the partial strike alone, and that cumulative losses will reach about 640 billion won as the full strike continues. Production processes for some anticancer drugs and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatments have also been halted.
The union is maintaining a hard-line stance, setting the complete replacement of the company's bargaining committee as a precondition. Accordingly, there are expectations that the chances of a dramatic breakthrough in the additional talks in the afternoon are limited.