Unionized workers at fast-growing South Korean CDMO Samsung Biologics kicked off a planned general strike on Friday, escalating a dispute that has been brewing for the past few months.
The five-day strike is the first since the company’s establishment in 2011 and sees the union seeking an increase in base and performance-related wages, The Korea Herald reported on May 1.
“At this time, Samsung Biologics prioritizes maintaining supply stability and minimizing any impact,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “To reduce disruption, the company is assigning experienced personnel and those who have recently completed training to backfill key operational areas.”
“We are also maintaining proactive communication with our clients to manage any potential impact,” the spokesperson continued. “We are striving for continuous dialogue with the labor union to achieve an amicable resolution as soon as possible while safeguarding the continuity of our operations."
The action follows an April 22 labor union rally that gathered 2,200 participants outside Samsung Bio’s Bio Campus 1 for an hour during non-working hours. At the time, union chair Park Jaesung said that the union was fighting to “change the company’s decision-making structure.”
“Even now, we have not abandoned the chance for dialogue,” Jaesung said in a statement at the time. “But if management continues to refuse meaningful talks, we will show our determination through the planned strike action.”
The company and the union have held 13 rounds of talks between December and March, according to the Korea Herald.
More than 95% of the union had voted in favor of a strike back in March, with a plan to initiate “phased strike actions” starting with the offline rally on April 22 and leading up to the general strike on May 1, lest company management “presents a credible and autonomous proposal,” the union had said.
The labor union, which it said represents approximately 75% of Samsung Bio’s employees, highlighted lower wage conditions than last year despite the company’s growth. The union attributed the gap to a “lack of independent bargaining authority” with the CDMO’s larger parent company, Samsung Electronics.
Last month, Samsung Bio reported first-quarter revenues of 1.26 trillion Korean won ($851.9 million), good for a massive 257.6 billion Korean won ($174.4 million) boost over the same period last year. The momentum was driven by “full utilization” across its four manufacturing plants, with cumulative contract value over the quarter coming out to $21.4 billion, reflecting “continued demand from global clients,” the company said.
The CDMO has been busy expanding its global footprint, with a recently completed acquisition of a former GSK manufacturing site in Rockville, Maryland. The spot features a total of 60,000 liters of drug substance capacity and can support both clinical-stage and commercial drug production.