By Heekyong Yang
SEOUL, May 18 (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics and its South Korean labour union kicked off a new round of government-mediated pay talks on Monday, in a bid to avert a strike at the tech giant, which accounts for nearly a quarter of the country’s exports.
The talks follow the collapse last week of a first round of negotiations over pay and bonus schemes, ahead of a strike due to begin on Thursday at the world’s largest memory chipmaker.
Before the meeting, a union leader told reporters that it would engage sincerely in the talks.
South Korean government officials, including the prime minister and finance minister, have voiced concerns that a strike should be avoided at all costs, warning it could pose significant risk to economic growth, exports and financial markets.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said in a social media post on Monday that management rights should be respected as much as labour rights.
“In South Korea, which has adopted a liberal democratic order and capitalist market economy, labour should be respected as much as businesses, and corporate management rights should be respected as much as labour rights,” Lee wrote on X.
He said that workers should receive fair compensation for their labour, while shareholders who bear risks and losses through investments also deserve a share of corporate profit.
STRIKE DUE TO START MAY 21
Samsung Electronics shares reversed course after Lee’s post, rising as much as 3.5% in morning trade, compared with a 1.5% decline in the benchmark KOSPI index.
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said on Sunday the government would pursue all options, including emergency arbitration, to prevent a strike.
An emergency arbitration order, which can be invoked by the labour minister if the country deems that a dispute is likely to harm the economy or daily life, immediately prohibits industrial action for 30 days while the National Labor Relations Commission conducts mediation and arbitration.
The union said on Sunday it would not give in to pressure on arbitration and would not agree to a pay deal should the company offer a less favourable proposal.
More than 45,000 workers are threatening to stage the largest strike in the company’s history running for 18 days from May 21, disrupting production of memory chips that are crucial components in AI data centres, smartphones and laptops, as Samsung and its union struggle to find a compromise over bonus payouts.
After the collapse of negotiations last week, executives from Samsung’s chip division urged the union to refrain from striking, citing concerns raised by hard-won semiconductor customers such as Nvidia, according to media reports.
The executives said some customers had indicated they might temporarily stop accepting shipments during a strike because they could not guarantee product quality, according to the reports, citing a participant at the meeting.
Samsung declined to comment on the matter.
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Heejin Kim; Editing by Ed Davies)
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