This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz RM Report website at 3:19 p.m. on May 14, 2026.
With the Samsung Electronics union set to go on a general strike on the 21st, the court is expected to issue a decision on Samsung Electronics' request for an injunction to ban illegal industrial action before the strike. The core issue is how far to limit the union's right to strike on the grounds of safety and preservation work at semiconductor plants.
Samsung Electronics argues that the union's strike could hinder the safety protection facilities and raw material and equipment preservation work at semiconductor plants, causing irreparable harm. The union counters that it will leave the minimum personnel necessary for safety and preservation, and says management is trying to overly restrict the right to strike on that basis.
◇Samsung: "If the plants stop, recovery is impossible"... union: "We will leave the necessary personnel"
According to legal sources on the 14th, the Suwon District Court held a second hearing the previous day on Samsung Electronics' request for an injunction to ban illegal industrial action against the union. At the hearing, the union presented a slide deck rebutting the injunction request, and Samsung Electronics responded in turn. The court plans to reach a decision before the scheduled strike date of the 21st.
The Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act stipulates that even in the event of industrial action, the maintenance and operation of safety protection facilities must not be obstructed. It also prohibits interference with work intended to prevent damage to work facilities or the deterioration or spoilage of raw materials and products. Legal experts view the key issue as how to apply this provision to semiconductor plants.
Labor and management are clashing in four main areas.
1) Scope of safety protection facilities. Samsung Electronics argues that if fire protection, exhaust, drainage and power supply facilities at semiconductor plants are not maintained properly, fires, explosions or chemical leaks could occur. It says essential personnel to manage safety facilities must remain on site during the strike.
The union does not deny the need to maintain safety protection facilities. However, it argues that management is defining the scope of safety protection facilities too broadly. The claim is that management is effectively trying to include personnel for maintaining production, not genuine safety facilities such as fire protection and power, within the scope of strike restrictions.
2) Scope of preventing damage to raw materials and equipment such as wafers. Samsung Electronics argues that if processes are halted due to a strike, wafers worth tens of millions of won per piece could deteriorate or be discarded. Because semiconductor processes can cause damage to raw materials and products if stopped midstream, pre- and post-preservation work is essential.
In fact, in Feb. 2021, Samsung Electronics suffered damage of up to 400 billion won when power supply was cut for about three days due to a snowstorm in Texas, the United States. Production of about 71,000 wafers was disrupted, and it took about a month to restart the halted plants.
The union argues there are ways to prevent damage. A union attorney said, "We proposed to the court a plan to prevent damage by not unsealing delivered wafers and by stabilizing wafers already in process." The union says it is not refusing necessary preservation work, but that management is effectively trying to block the strike itself on that basis.
3) Maintenance of semiconductor equipment. Samsung Electronics argues that semiconductor equipment differs from general manufacturing equipment. Once the power is turned off or a process stops, it takes a long time to restart, and this process can incur massive expense. For example, if a chemical solution in a cleaning tool solidifies, all internal piping must be replaced, which could amount to work equivalent to installing new equipment.
The union says it will maintain the minimum work necessary to prevent equipment damage. Even if it strikes, it does not mean it will stop safety and preservation work that the law prohibits from being halted.
4) Scope of no-occupation facilities. Samsung Electronics believes semiconductor manufacturing processes are organically connected, so stopping even some production lines can affect the entire process. It therefore argues that occupations of key production facilities and related spaces should be banned.
The union counters that management's claim is excessive. It argues that including general office space or warehouses as areas where industrial action is banned would overly restrict the right to strike.
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Based on the parties' arguments, the court is expected to decide how far safety protection facilities that must be maintained during the strike extend, what work is necessary to prevent damage to wafers and equipment, and to what extent the union's occupations can be restricted.
However, it is unclear whether the court will fully grant Samsung Electronics' request. In similar cases, courts have only partially accepted management's applications.
In a prior case in which Samsung Biologics sought an injunction to ban illegal industrial action against the union, the court restricted strikes only for certain processes. It banned strikes for three processes intended to prevent deterioration or spoilage of raw materials and products, but dismissed applications for six processes related to cultivation and purification. The court viewed work for preserving raw materials and products as protected, but said industrial action could not be broadly restricted on the grounds of the overall process.
In this case as well, observers say the court may impose restrictions limited to certain facilities and tasks rather than an outright strike ban. If the court broadly accepts Samsung Electronics' request, the union's general strike could have reduced practical effect even if it goes ahead. Conversely, if the court only partially grants or dismisses the request, the union is likely to proceed with the planned strike while leaving essential personnel in place.
A legal source said, "The bench cannot ignore the unique aspects of semiconductor processes, but it would also be reluctant to issue a decision that effectively neutralizes the right to strike," adding, "Ideally, before a strike, the government would invoke its emergency arbitration power and the parties would return to mediation."