SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Samsung Electronics and its workers’ union resumed talks Wednesday with South Korea’s labor minister mediating, after earlier talks aimed at averting a strike collapsed.
Workers at the world’s top memory chipmaker had been due to begin a strike on Thursday after talks over bonuses failed, raising concerns that production of crucial semiconductor chips could be hit.
The planned walkout was expected to dwarf a 2024 strike that drew about 6,000 workers, as anger flares among staff over how the company distributes its massive profits from an artificial intelligence-fuelled boom.
But negotiations between management and the union would be mediated by the labor minister, the ministry said later on Wednesday.
Samsung reported a roughly 750-percent jump in first-quarter operating profit year on year, while its market capitalization topped $1 trillion for the first time in May.
The union had called for the scrapping of a bonus cap set at 50 percent of annual salaries and for 15 percent of operating profit to be allocated to bonuses.
“Around 10 p.m. on May 19, the labor union agreed to the mediation proposal put forward by the National Labor Relations Commission; however, management expressed its refusal,” it said in a statement earlier Wednesday.
“The labor union will lawfully commence a general strike tomorrow as scheduled.”
According to the union’s lawyer, around 50,500 workers were set to walk off production lines for 18 days from Thursday following the breakdown of negotiations with management.
In response, Samsung’s management said the talks failed because “acceding to the labor union’s excessive demands would risk undermining the fundamental principles of the company’s management.”
The standoff has raised concerns in South Korea, where semiconductors account for about 35 percent of exports and are a key pillar of the economy.
The presidential office had expressed “deep regret” over the collapse of talks earlier, urging both sides to continue negotiations given the strike’s potential economic impact.