Labor conflict at Samsung Electronics has spilled beyond the bargaining table. With a strike looming, company and government officials have pushed for talks to resume, but the union’s release of an audio recording from a closed mediation session at the Central Labor Relations Commission has escalated tensions over trust in the negotiations and the strike’s legitimacy.
The Samsung union recently posted an audio file it recorded during a post-mediation session at the Central Labor Relations Commission to a communication channel that included members and reporters. The meeting on the 12th continued negotiations between management and the union under the commission’s mediation.
The released recording captures Choi Seung-ho, chair of the cross-enterprise Samsung Electronics branch, sharply criticizing Executive Vice President Kim Hyeong-ro’s account of company performance. Choi argues that the company misrepresented this year’s results and overstated the performance-pay gap between business units.
A mediator urged both sides to narrow their differences, but Choi demanded that the commission present a formal settlement proposal. He said he no longer intended to engage directly with the company and repeatedly pressed the commission to issue a proposal.
The union appears to have released the recording to force a change in management’s stance. Critics counter that exposing a private, government-mediated session undermines confidence in the bargaining process.
The Central Labor Relations Commission prohibits recording or filming without the chair’s permission. Anyone caught can be ordered to leave. While the union argues the commission did not fulfill its mediation role, many worry that publicizing confidential talks will make it harder to restart constructive dialogue.
The government is closely monitoring the situation. After Industry Minister Kim Jeong-gwan warned that invoking emergency mediation could be unavoidable if a general strike occurs, the Blue House said reopening talks to avert a strike should be the priority. Officials, however, have remained cautious about whether to use emergency mediation.
Internal divisions at Samsung over the strike are widening. Some employees have publicly declared their intention to join the strike, and many have changed their internal messenger nicknames to strike-related slogans.
Meanwhile, employees in the DX division—home appliances and mobile—have filed injunctions seeking to block the strike. They argue that the largest union with bargaining rights does not adequately represent all business units and have raised concerns about representation.
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