Samsung Electronics' labor and management negotiations have failed to reach an agreement even during post-mediation, heightening the crisis of a general strike, with the union announcing, "We are not considering further dialogue with the company until the strike ends."

Chairman Choi Seung-ho completes hearing for injunction against illegal labor disputes [Suwon=Yonhap News]

Choi Seung-ho, chairman of the largest union at Samsung Electronics, the Trans-Enterprise Union Samsung Electronics Branch (hereafter Trans-Enterprise Union), told reporters this on the morning of the 13th, after the second hearing of the illegal labor dispute injunction case held at the Suwon District Court.

Chairman Choi emphasized, "During the five months of negotiations leading up to post-mediation, the company's proposals made absolutely no progress. Therefore, we are no longer in a position to consider further mediation."

He continued, "During the 17 hours of post-mediation, we spent 16 hours simply waiting. We declared the mediation a failure because we believed that extending the mediation without any revised proposals was a tactic to undermine the momentum for a general strike."

Regarding concerns about wafer deterioration during the strike, he stated firmly, "There are many ways to prevent wafer deterioration, and I believe it is misguided to argue that production must be forced to prevent this."

The Trans-Enterprise Union reported that as of this morning, 42,000 members are participating in the strike, and they anticipate at least 50,000 participants.

Chairman Choi said, "As we have legitimately obtained the right to strike, we will conduct our labor dispute activities lawfully. There will be absolutely no threats or violence, and we will not occupy any facilities beyond the office."

In response to claims that performance-based pay cannot be the objective of labor disputes, he replied, "The scale of performance-based pay is so high, almost equivalent to salary, that we received confirmation from the National Labor Relations Commission and the company that there were no issues. If there had been a problem, we would have been notified of its impossibility much earlier."

Regarding the 'Emergency Mediation,' an exceptional mediation procedure that the Minister of Employment and Labor can initiate when labor disputes are likely to endanger people's daily lives or significantly harm the national economy, he stated, "We are not considering the possibility of its activation."

Chairman Choi emphasized, "We understand the government's stance is to fight and achieve, and we are fighting lawfully. We have also lowered our demands to facilitate an agreement. We lowered them during the initial mediation and again during the post-mediation."

Hong Jin-a, the legal representative for the Trans-Enterprise Union, explained, "The conditions for activating emergency mediation are very stringent, and in our case, it is difficult to consider our facilities as essential. In past cases where it was invoked, such as at Hyundai Motor Company, the dispute was so prolonged that intervention became necessary. However, we have not even begun, and the strike dates are clearly set."

Even before attending the injunction hearing, Chairman Choi met with reporters and, regarding the company's concerns about institutionalizing performance-based pay, he stressed, "We are asking to receive performance-based pay based on a percentage of operating profit, so naturally, if there are no results, we will not receive it. SK Hynix, which has the same system in place, cannot be said to have an inflexible institutionalization."

He added, "The compensation linked to SK Hynix is something that can be referred to as Samsung's 'Hynix Academy,' as we have consistently stated. These aspects can clearly be changed and institutionalized. I find the proposal to compensate only the DS division with a one-time special management performance bonus to be unacceptable."

When asked about the scope of illegal labor disputes in relation to the injunction, he stated firmly, "The company talks about the possibility of threats or violence, but we have no such intentions."

He continued, "They also mentioned the issue of raw material waste. However, manufacturing, production, and technical fields have not been included in the scope of 'agreement workers' in the past, so they can participate in the strike. It is nonsensical to claim now that they cannot strike, and I believe the court will carefully consider this matter."

Samsung Electronics Chief Negotiator Vice President Kim Hyung-ro (left photo) and Trans-Enterprise Union Samsung Electronics Branch Chairman Choi Seung-ho (right photo) leave the negotiation venue early on the 13th after the second post-mediation for the 2026 wage negotiations broke down at the Central Labor Relations Commission in the Government Complex Sejong, Sejong City. [Yonhap News]

Earlier, at dawn today, Chairman Choi declared the mediation a failure after a 17-hour post-mediation meeting.

The union stated that the reason for the breakdown was that none of their consistently demanded proposals for the abolition, transparency, and institutionalization of performance-based pay limits were achieved; in fact, they regressed.

With the post-mediation having failed, the union plans to proceed with a general strike for 18 days starting on the 21st, as previously announced.