Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon arrives at his office at the Government Complex Sejong, Monday, as Samsung Electronics' largest labor union held government-led mediation talks with the management for a last-minute breakthrough ahead of the union's planned 18-day strike starting Thursday following their failure to narrow their differences over performance-based bonuses. Yonhap
The labor ministry said Wednesday it is "too early" to speak of invoking emergency arbitration powers despite the breakdown of wage negotiations at Samsung Electronics earlier in the day.
Hong Kyung-ui, a ministry spokesperson, made the remark to reporters after the company's largest labor union vowed to go ahead with its planned strike on Thursday due to the breakdown of government-mediated talks with management.
There have been speculations that the government will likely issue an emergency arbitration order to halt a strike and prevent it from causing major harm to the country's economy.
"There is still time left for dialogue between labor and management," Hong said at the government complex in the central administrative city of Sejong when asked about the possibility of the order. "It is still too early to specifically speak of that."
