Union aligns with Federation of Korean Trade Unions four months after leaving cross-company union; controversy over plan to delegate bargaining rights
Management expresses 'deep regret' over pre-emptive strike declaration; union blames company's bad-faith bargaining
Move seen as bid to expand external pressure as court rulings narrow room for legal strike action
The Samsung Biologics Mutual Benefit Labor Union has unilaterally declared a strike to follow what it calls a "final-round bargaining session" and has brought in an established umbrella labor federation — even before formal negotiations with management have begun, stirring controversy.
Critics say the union is focused on building a pretext for a strike and expanding its external alliances rather than making a genuine effort to reach a settlement, even as courts have repeatedly moved to restrict strike action.
According to industry sources Friday, the union publicly announced its plan to strike after a "final-round bargaining session" next week, ahead of formal negotiations with management scheduled for Sunday. The declaration treats a breakdown in talks as a foregone conclusion and locks in industrial action before substantive bargaining has even started.
Management responded with immediate pushback, expressing deep regret over what it described as the union's one-sided approach. Samsung Biologics said that after the Oct. 28 appellate court ruling on an injunction, the union had indefinitely postponed its strike and proposed talks, and that at the resulting meeting — arranged with difficulty — the union stated it would "delegate bargaining to the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and focus the union on the strike."
Management added that the union had "continuously used the threat of a strike to pressure the company," and that immediately after agreeing on a schedule for negotiations, the union unilaterally declared a post-"final-round" strike and publicized it externally, even though talks had not yet begun.
Management was particularly pointed in its criticism, saying the move "risks being seen as prioritizing the display of a hard-line stance to outside audiences and building justification for a strike, rather than making a genuine effort to reach a settlement." It added that it had growing doubts about whether the union truly wanted meaningful dialogue, and that it was increasingly uncertain how substantive talks could proceed.
Industry observers say the anxiety driving the union's decision to declare a strike before talks begin — and to formalize ties with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions — stems from a series of unfavorable court rulings.
Earlier, the First Civil Division of the Incheon branch of the Seoul High Court, on Oct. 16, recognized all nine core production processes requested by management — from cell culture through to filling — as "security work" under the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, and banned industrial action in those areas. The court also ordered an indirect enforcement penalty of 20 million won ($15,000) per violation, in effect sharply narrowing the legal room for a full-scale strike.
The union passed a resolution through a membership vote to build a strike fund of up to 300,000 won per member, totaling 1.2 billion won, securing internal resources. However, the legal and operational risks of pressing ahead with a strike in defiance of the court's ruling remain substantial.
Analysts say the union is ultimately playing the "strike warning" card in advance to shift blame for any breakdown onto management, while positioning itself to pivot to rolling strikes or an external campaign — and to borrow the firepower of an umbrella federation in doing so.
The union's turn to an established federation is also drawing scrutiny, given that it was founded on a platform of political independence. Just four months after leaving the Samsung cross-company union in June, the Mutual Benefit Union held a press conference at the National Assembly alongside the leadership of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions to denounce the court rulings, and is now considering formally joining the federation.
The union's remark in pre-talks discussions that it would "delegate bargaining rights to the Federation of Korean Trade Unions" is being seen both as a sign that the union lacks the capacity to lead negotiations itself, and as a move to politicize the dispute.
The union pushed back, saying management's own lack of sincerity was to blame. It said the remark about delegating bargaining to the federation was "a warning, made because the company has repeatedly sent representatives without real authority or responsibility to conduct hollow, bad-faith negotiations — it does not mean we intend to hand over bargaining unconditionally and focus solely on striking." The union added that its executive leadership would attend next week's negotiations directly.
On the "final-round bargaining" declaration, the union also said: "If talks break down, the only card left to the union is industrial action — this is simply stating the obvious."
silverpaper@heraldcorp.com
