The conflict between labor and management at Samsung Biologics is escalating into an all-out confrontation, moving from an injunction to the court's indirect compulsory order.
After the court sided with management, saying that key processes directly tied to the deterioration or spoilage of biopharmaceuticals must not be halted during strikes and other industrial actions, the union led by Chairperson Park Jae-seong pushed back hard, saying it "does not mean illegal acts were acknowledged."
◇ Court: "Concern over drug deterioration… ban on orders to halt key purification and filling processes"
According to legal and industry circles on the 22nd, the 21st Civil Division of the Incheon District Court (Presiding Judge Yu A-ram) on the 21st partially granted the application for an indirect compulsory order filed by Samsung Biologics against the Samsung Group supra-enterprise labor union's Samsung Biologics Win-Win Chapter (the union). In its ruling, the court ordered that during the period of industrial action, the union must not instruct members to halt, or distribute guidelines related to halting, the core steps of biopharmaceutical manufacturing: △ concentration and buffer exchange, △ drug substance filling, and △ buffer preparation and supply.
If the union violates this obligation, it must pay 20 million won to the company for each violation. The company had originally sought 100 million won per violation, but the court adjusted the amount considering the feasibility of compliance.
Because biopharmaceuticals involve living cells, if processes are not carried out on time, there is a high risk that all raw materials and products will deteriorate or spoil.
The court specified that "if concentration and buffer exchange work are not performed in a timely manner, the products may lose their suitability as medicines and the raw materials and products may deteriorate or spoil."
The court said that while there is a dispute between the parties over whether the union violated the injunction, it issued the indirect compulsory order because, with the collective bargaining dispute unresolved, it found sufficiently substantiated the "likelihood" that the union could violate the injunction if the dispute intensifies.
◇ Labor, management, and government resume talks today… standoff on both sides remains
Once the court's decision became known, the union immediately expressed its position and protested.
Samsung Bio union Chairperson Park Jae-seong drew a line, saying the decision by no means "means the union violated the prior injunction decision or that prior industrial actions were illegal." Park argued that what the court acknowledged was merely the future "likelihood" amid the dispute, not an illegality finding on past activities.
Park said, "The company is feeding the media so that this decision is interpreted as if the union's illegal acts were acknowledged," calling it "a malicious public-opinion campaign that fuels distrust between labor and management and worsens conflict." Park added, "If the company seeks to intimidate members through legal pressure, we will consider every corresponding response."
Business and biotech circles say the decision allows Samsung Biologics to secure a "minimal legal defense" to prevent production disruptions and astronomical losses directly tied to the trust of global clients.
However, with the union signaling a strong fight, saying it "will not waver," significant growing pains and breakdowns appear inevitable at the wage-and-collective-bargaining table and during the labor-management-government talks ahead.
A Samsung Biologics official dismissed the union's stance, saying, "The company will continue to communicate with the union and the government and will do its best to complete negotiations."
Samsung Biologics labor and management will hold labor-management-government talks with the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) at 3 p.m. today at the Songdo plant in Incheon. The two sides have failed to find common ground in earlier talks and have been at odds. Both submitted revised proposals to the Labor Ministry, but the differences are still said to be wide.
The union has demanded a 14.3% increase in base pay plus a flat increase of 3.5 million won and a settlement payment of 30 million won per person, and has called for 20% of operating profit to be reflected as the over-performance incentive (OPI) pool. The company, by contrast, is said to have proposed a 6.2% wage increase and a one-time payment of 6 million won, viewing that if the union's demands are applied, the real wage increase for new hires would reach 21.3%.