Samsung Biologics Workers Begin First-Ever Strike Over Wage Demands

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. 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. 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.