Samsung Electronics, Union to Resume Mediation Talks Ahead of Strike

SEOUL, May 16 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. and its labor union will resume government-led mediation talks Monday, just three days ahead of a major planned strike, company and union officials said Saturday.

The session will take place at the National Labor Relations Commission's office in Sejong, about 110 kilometers south of Seoul, after earlier mediation talks broke down Wednesday.

The company's largest labor union plans to begin the 18-day strike next Thursday, which could disrupt production at the world's largest memory chipmaker. The union has said over 46,000 of its members have expressed willingness to join the strike.

The talks are expected to be a last-ditch effort to reach a resolution to an impasse over bonus payouts.

Labor and management remain sharply divided over performance-based bonuses tied to earnings from the company's artificial intelligence-related semiconductor business amid the ongoing memory supercycle.

The planned resumption comes after the company replaced its chief negotiator Vice President Kim Hyung-ro at the union's request. Yeo Myung-koo, head of the company's Device Solutions division's People Team, will replace Kim.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong earlier on Saturday issued a public apology for causing concern over the company's "internal" issues, while calling for unity within his company.

"Now is the time to wisely gather our strengths and move in one direction," Lee said at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul after returning from an overseas business trip. "Union members, Samsung family members, we are one body, one family."

"I truly apologize to our global customers for causing worry and concern for our company's internal issues," he said, bowing multiple times.

In response, Choi Seung-ho, head of the union, said employees joined the union as their trust in the company was broken. He called for efforts to restore that trust in the upcoming talks.

The union has demanded fixed performance bonuses equivalent to 15 percent of the operating profit generated by the company's semiconductor division, along with the removal of the payout cap.

The management proposed maintaining the current excess profit incentive system while allowing the bonus pool to be calculated based on either 10 percent of operating profit or economic value added, known as EVA.

The company also proposed introducing a special compensation system, saying it would help create a more flexible incentive structure.