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[iNews24 Reporter Lim Jeong-gyu] Pyeongtaek City in Gyeonggi Province has begun reviewing its response plans to limit damage to the local economy and reduce disruption to residents if the Samsung Electronics labor dispute continues.
On May 20, the city convened a “Samsung Electronics Labor-Management Situation Response Meeting” at city hall to assess how a breakdown in negotiations could affect the community and to coordinate response measures.
The meeting followed warnings from the union of a possible full strike after talks with Samsung failed to find common ground. Officials said the goal was to minimize disruption to the local area.
Officials prioritized preparations for possible strike-related demonstrations, focusing on maintaining public order, ensuring safety, and managing road and traffic measures.
They said they will monitor notifications of planned assemblies in real time and coordinate with the police, fire services, and other agencies to keep inconvenience to residents to a minimum.
Officials also flagged concerns that construction of the Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek campus could face schedule delays.
The city will closely monitor construction site operations and local business trends. If the local economy shows signs of contraction, officials said they will consider expanding special loan guarantees for small businesses, increasing incentives tied to local currency programs, and rolling out measures to stimulate consumer spending.
They also reviewed potential damage to Samsung’s partner companies.
The city plans to monitor challenges facing local semiconductor materials and parts suppliers linked to Samsung and to prepare additional support measures if harm occurs.
Officials added that they will broaden the mandate of the Pyeongtaek Emergency Economic Measures Council—which has been operating since March to address instability in the Middle East—to include assessing the labor dispute’s impact on the regional economy.
Deputy Mayor Lee Seong-ho said, “Samsung’s crisis is Pyeongtaek’s crisis,” and urged officials to concentrate all administrative resources on minimizing economic harm and inconvenience to residents related to the issue.
Meanwhile, Samsung and the union failed to reach an agreement during the Central Labor Relations Commission’s second post-adjustment session on May 20.
The two sides have been negotiating reforms to the bonus system and proposals to link payouts to operating profit, but they reportedly could not bridge differences over how to allocate the bonus pool.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Minister Kim Young-hoon personally intervened to mediate the talks. The ministry emphasized that the failed post-adjustment does not constitute a complete collapse of negotiations and pledged to support continued dialogue between the parties.
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