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The revised Trade Union Act now in force in South Korea, whose ambiguous dispute scope the ministry is trying to pin down through guidelines.
South Korea lost 489,190 working days to strikes through September, 24.2% more than in all of last year, labor ministry data show. The losses trace to disputes at large workplaces, so a few big employers' wage talks now set the national figure.
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Samsung Biologics' union asked Samsung Electronics, its roughly 31% shareholder, to bargain over pay and promotions as its employer. The claim tests how far Korea's Yellow Envelope law reaches into a corporate group, while a three-week strike from Oct. 26 could cost, at May's loss rate, about a quarter's operating profit.
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Kim Yong-beom says the state's strength no longer needs to go into reviving growth. The opposition floor leader says the growth was the chipmakers' work, and the live question is what the next budget buys.
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The Ministry of Employment and Labor wants routine reassignments tied to building or expanding a workplace kept out of bargaining and dispute scope, which hands chipmakers a quieter path from capex to a staffed fab. The final text is due next week.
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