South Korea weighs arbitration to avoid Samsung semiconductor plant strike

The world’s largest memory chipmaker and its South ‌Korean labour union will resume pay talks on Monday with a government mediator South Korea ⁠will pursue all options, ⁠including emergency arbitration, to ⁠avoid a labour strike at the country’s biggest employer Samsung Electronics and to minimise any damage if one does occur, its prime minister said on Sunday. The world’s largest memory chipmaker and its South ‌Korean labour union will resume pay talks on Monday with a government mediator, in a move that could ease concerns over a potentially disruptive strike at the tech giant that accounts for nearly a quarter of the country’s exports. “Just one day of suspension at Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor factory is expected ⁠to incur direct losses of as much as 1 trillion won (US$667.68 million),” Prime Minister ‌Kim Min-seok said after an emergency meeting with ministers on Sunday. “What is more concerning is that a temporary pause on semiconductor manufacturing ‌lines leads to months of inactivity,” Kim said, adding there were worries ⁠about economic damage ⁠ballooning to as much as 100 trillion won if materials had to be disposed of due ‌to a strike.

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