Samsung Biologics union's renewed strike threat sparks internal backlash

Wage and collective bargaining negotiations at Samsung Biologics, which had found a potential breakthrough through post-mediation by a labor commission after 27 rounds of talks and strikes this year, ran into trouble from the very first day amid the union's move to derail the process. At a session where labor and management had gone to great lengths to sit down together and mend their rift, the union cited the company's failure to present a revised proposal as a pretext to raise the specter of a "second strike," undermining the talks. Even employees have turned against what they see as extreme action that ignores fierce competition in the global biotech market, fueling a wave of internal criticism.

According to industry sources Thursday, the Incheon Regional Labor Relations Commission held the first post-mediation session between Samsung Biologics' labor and management on Tuesday. Post-mediation is a process the two sides jointly requested to resolve their dispute through dialogue after mediation was suspended in March. At the first session, labor and management agreed, following the mediators' recommendation, to hold voluntary collective agreement negotiations Thursday and Friday before convening a second mediation session the following Tuesday.

But the union threw cold water on the talks. On the same day the first session ended — Tuesday — it immediately issued a statement and its own meeting minutes to the press and union members. On Wednesday it shared the same content with all employees and declared an immediate escalation. "The company, contrary to its promise, has not presented any proposal," the union said. "If it fails to provide concrete grounds, we will withdraw from the post-mediation process and respond by mobilizing every means available," it added, openly signaling the possibility of a second strike.

The company issued an internal notice directly rebuffing the union's claims. "The union was clearly aware that the first session was meant to set a schedule and ground rules for future progress in negotiations, not for the company to present a proposal," the company said. It then criticized the union, saying, "Although the mediators' remarks were meant to urge both sides to come up with proposals each could compromise on, the union distorted them by extracting only the phrases favorable to itself." It is highly unusual for a company to issue a direct statement to its employees while negotiations are underway. The move appears to be an emergency step to head off confusion on the ground and stop the union from misleading internal opinion with one-sided claims that diverge from the facts.

Industry observers largely criticize the union for bringing the breakdown on itself, saying it never intended to reach a settlement and instead focused solely on flexing its muscle. The union filed seven additional legal actions — including allegations of unfair labor practices — against the company and its chief executive just a week before the formal post-mediation process began. Critics say the union opened the door to dialogue while waging a barrage of lawsuits behind the scenes, apparently intent on wrecking the negotiations from the outset.

Competition for orders in the global pharmaceutical and biotech industry is intensifying, and major business expansions are converging — including the launch of a new plant in Rockville, Maryland, and a 3 trillion won ($2.24 billion) rights offering. Critics say invoking a second strike on the very first day negotiations resumed amounts to baseless posturing and intimidation. This runs directly counter to the trend among major conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics, whose labor and management reached settlements by each making concessions even amid the risk of all-out strikes. Moreover, the union has still not withdrawn its demand — included in its proposed revisions to the collective agreement — for "prior consent and agreement" on changes to the personnel system, workforce redeployment and organizational restructuring, which would infringe on management rights.

The union's protracted, hard-line campaign has failed to win any public sympathy and has only pushed employee fatigue to the breaking point, observers say. Given that Samsung Biologics workers already receive some of the industry's best compensation, the union's insistence on operating-profit-linked bonuses and involvement in management decisions is unlikely to win public support, critics say, adding that the fallout from the endless dispute is being passed directly onto the employees themselves.

On anonymous workplace community platforms such as Blind, employees have posted a stream of comments criticizing the union's hard-line stance and its leadership's competence, including: "If they started post-mediation, they should be thinking about how to finish it, not whether to blow up the meeting on the very first day," and "They acted rashly and ultimately wrecked the whole thing — didn't they want to blow it up from the start?"

Samsung Biologics called for the post-mediation process to return to normal and made clear it would take a principled approach. "We hope the union will return to a sincere posture of dialogue so that the post-mediation process can proceed normally and meaningfully," the company said. "We will respond strictly, according to law and principle, to the legal actions filed by the union and the recent distortion and defamation, and we strongly urge the union to act responsibly." The company added, "Despite this, we will do our utmost to narrow the gap between labor and management and reach an amicable agreement, approaching negotiations to the end with a responsible and sincere attitude."