Samsung Biologics postpones union talks two weeks amid bargaining disruptions

Samsung Biologics has officially notified its union that collective bargaining sessions scheduled for Tuesday will be postponed by two weeks.

The company said the delay was unavoidable after the union unilaterally demanded a full replacement of management's lead negotiators and simultaneously pursued strike preparations and a media pressure campaign behind the scenes, making genuine dialogue impossible.

According to industry sources Monday, Samsung Biologics sent the union a formal letter proposing the two-week postponement of the collective bargaining session set for Tuesday.

The company said it had scheduled the resumption of talks expecting to reach meaningful progress through sincere discussion, but the union had already undermined trust and closed off the channel for dialogue before negotiations even began.

In the letter, Samsung Biologics identified the union's demand on Friday for the complete removal and replacement of management's lead bargaining representatives as the direct cause of the breakdown. The company said the union had denied the legal standing and practical authority of its negotiators on the pretext of mere differences in opinion or communication style.

The company added that demanding the unilateral exclusion of its representatives — despite those representatives having never insulted the union or spread false information in any official setting — was not consistent with the basic courtesy owed to a legitimate negotiating counterpart.

The union's strike threats and aggressive media campaign also drew fire. At a Wednesday meeting to discuss resuming negotiations, the union threw cold water on the process by announcing it was considering handing full bargaining authority to its parent organization, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, and shifting the union's own focus entirely to labor disputes.

The union's hard-line posture continued despite repeated requests from management to exercise restraint. On the same day, the company asked the union to refrain from inflammatory media coverage in the interest of a smooth resumption of talks. The moment the meeting ended, the union gave press interviews using phrases such as "all-or-nothing bargaining" and "strike if talks collapse," launching a sweeping public pressure campaign.

Personal attacks at an unauthorized in-house rally dealt a further blow to trust. On Friday, the union held an unsanctioned gathering on company premises and publicly named and disparaged management's lead bargaining representative along with all other labor-relations staff by name.

Samsung Biologics concluded that meaningful dialogue could not take place in an environment where the union was denying the standing of management's negotiators while pressing ahead with strike threats and mobilizing its parent federation to apply pressure.

The company said proceeding with Tuesday's session under those conditions would risk further eroding mutual respect and trust, and it therefore formally proposed a two-week period for "genuine reconciliation and trust-building."

However, the company left the door open. Samsung Biologics said it is prepared to resume bargaining at any point during the two-week window if the union stops its unilateral pressure tactics and approaches talks on the basis of mutual respect and trust.

"The company scheduled the resumption of talks with the expectation of sincere discussion, but the union made normal dialogue impossible even before bargaining began — by raising the prospect of handing authority to the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, spreading reports of a 'strike if talks collapse,' and publicly disparaging staff by name at an unauthorized rally," a Samsung Biologics official said. "Meaningful dialogue cannot take place in an environment where strike action, media pressure and parent-federation mobilization are being pursued behind the scenes at the same time. That is why we proposed the two-week trust-building period. We are ready to come to the table at any time if the request is made on the basis of mutual respect and trust."