The court hearing on Samsung Electronics' request for an injunction to ban illegal industrial action by the union has concluded. The court plans to decide whether to grant the injunction at least 21 days before the union's announced general strike.
According to legal sources on the 13th, the Suwon District Court's Civil Division 31, presided over by Chief Judge Shin Woo-jung, held a hearing at 10 a.m. on Samsung Electronics' application filed on the 16th of last month seeking an injunction to ban illegal industrial action against two unions: the Super Enterprise Labor Union Samsung Electronics Branch and the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union.
About 30 people, including attorneys and officials from both labor and management, attended the closed-door hearing. First, the two unions presented a PowerPoint (PPT) rebutting the injunction request, followed by the company's counterpresentation; the session lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes in that order.
Right after the hearing, Choi Seung-ho, chairperson of the Super Enterprise Union, told reporters that they emphasized to the court that there would be no illegal industrial action, no intimidation, assault, or occupation of production facilities, and that only an office sit-in was planned.
He added, "This case concerns an injunction against illegal industrial action; lawful action is not an issue, and we understand the company's position to be that a (lawful) strike is also not a problem."
Attorney Hong Ji-na, legal representative for the Super Enterprise Union, said about the background to the union's wage fight, "In 2024, the company told the court today that the semiconductor market was weak and called for sharing the pain, saying the performance bonus was '0,' and workers accepted it without protest," adding, "But we later found out that executives divided among themselves performance bonuses totaling 388 billion won at the time."
Concluding the hearing, the court said it would "make a decision after careful consideration." At the first hearing, the court had indicated it would decide by the 20th, before the general strike planned for the 21st this month, whether to grant the injunction.
Courts generally weigh the seriousness and urgency of the matter in injunction cases. In this case, the impact of the industrial action, the necessity of the action, and its legitimacy are expected to be key factors for review.