Samsung Biologics Workers Begin First-Ever Strike, Company Warns of Potential $433M Losses

SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- Unionized workers at Samsung Biologics, the biotech arm of Samsung Group, began a five-day general strike Friday, demanding higher wages and expanded performance-based compensation. The walkout marks the first labor strike since the company's establishment in 2011. Samsung Biologics said it is deploying all available personnel to minimize disruption but acknowledged that some impact to operations may be unavoidable. The company estimated that losses from a full-scale strike could exceed 640 billion won (US$433 million), roughly half of its first-quarter sales of 1.26 trillion won. In a message to employees released Friday, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer John Rim urged them to carefully consider whether to participate in the strike, warning it could lead to irreversible losses for both the company and its employees. "The company will continue sincere dialogue with the union to help stabilize labor-management relations and build a workplace based on mutual trust and respect," he said. In another statement released Friday afternoon, the company said it will respond to the situation in a responsible manner and take all possible measures to minimize damage for clients. Noting that the walkout has forced the company to cease some batch production of anticancer drugs and HIV treatments, the company estimated current losses at around 150 billion won. The union is seeking a 14 percent increase in both base and performance-related pay, a one-off cash incentive of 30 million won per worker and bonuses equivalent to 20 percent of annual operating profit. The company has proposed a combined 6.2 percent increase in base and performance pay. Negotiations between the two sides have failed to bridge significant differences despite 13 rounds of talks held between December and March. Last month, Samsung Biologics filed for a court injunction to block the planned strike. The court partially upheld the request, restricting industrial action across three of the company's nine production stages while allowing strike activities to proceed in the remaining six. The company immediately appealed the ruling. In a statement also released earlier Friday, the union said the general strike is not merely about wages but stems from management's failure in decision-making. "The union has been calling for substantive negotiations for more than a month since (the government's) earlier mediation efforts broke down, but the company has responded with legal pressure, including injunctions and warning messages, rather than presenting reasonable proposals," the statement said. Industry officials warned that disruptions at any stage of the production process could affect product quality, noting that global regulators, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), emphasize "process integrity" as a core requirement for biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Samsung Biologics and its union are scheduled to meet again Monday under mediation by a regional labor office of the labor ministry to discuss the direction of future negotiations.