Samsung Electronics and its unions failed to reach a deal on Wednesday, leaving a threatened 18-day walkout set to begin on Thursday.
Last-ditch government-mediated talks collapsed today (20 May), leaving an 18-day strike at the world’s biggest memory chipmaker set to begin Thursday. As Silicon Republic reported on 18 May, Samsung Electronics and its unions entered what Prime Minister Kim Min-seok described as a final round of negotiations to avert a walk-out by over 45,000 workers.
The unions had accepted the National Labor Relations Commission’s mediation proposal, but Samsung rejected it, according to CNBC, with shares falling by 4.4pc in Seoul on the news, says Bloomberg.
Samsung Electronics said it “deeply regrets” the breakdown in talks, in a statement published by Korean financial outlet Money Today. “Samsung Electronics deeply regrets that the post-mediation process has ended,” the company said, adding that it “will not give up on dialogue until the last moment”.
The dispute centres on Samsung’s performance-based bonus system. The union is seeking bonuses equivalent to 15pc of operating profit, the removal of a cap limiting payouts to 50pc of base salary, and formal multi-year contractual guarantees. Samsung has consistently refused to meet those demands in full.
