Kathmandu. South Korea’s technology giant Samsung Electronics and the country’s labor union resumed talks on Wednesday. The labor minister himself has taken part in the role of a mediator to prevent a possible big strike.

Samsung, the world’s leading memory chip manufacturer, has threatened to start a strike from Thursday after the dispute between the management and the trade unions over the distribution of bonuses. This has raised concerns that semiconductor production could be severely affected.

The strike is expected to be much bigger than the one in 2024. About 6,000 workers participated in the protest. This time, however, the company is making a huge profit due to the rapid expansion of the artificial intelligence-driven technology market, but it is not giving its fair share to the workers.

South Korea’s Ministry of Labor said the talks resumed on Wednesday afternoon. The government’s effort is seen as a last-ditch effort to avert the strike.

In the first quarter of this year, Samsung reported a 750 percent increase in operating profit compared to a year earlier. In May, the company’s market value crossed $1 trillion for the first time. The unions have demanded removal of the bonus limit capped at 50 percent of the annual salary and distribution of 15 percent of the operating profit of the company as bonus.

In a statement on Wednesday, the union said that it has accepted the mediation proposal put forward by the National Labor Relations Commission but the company’s management has rejected it. After this, the union announced that it will legally start the general strike from Thursday as per the pre-programme.

According to the union’s legal advisers, about 50,500 workers will be out of production line for 18 days. On the other hand, the company management has said that the demands of the trade unions are excessive and accepting these demands will weaken the basic principle of running the company.

The dispute has sparked widespread concern in South Korea, as the semiconductor industry is considered a mainstay of the country’s economy. About 35 percent of the total exports come from the semiconductor sector. The president’s office had earlier expressed “deep regret” over the failure of the talks and urged both sides to continue dialogue in light of the possible economic repercussions.

President Lee Jae-myung told a cabinet meeting that the labor movement must remain “within certain limits”. According to experts, even if Samsung’s production is only partially halted, it could affect the global technology supply chain. However, the trade union has cited the example of production being temporarily halted in the past due to repair and equipment testing, claiming that the current agitation is a matter of normal industrial process.

The government also has the legal authority to suspend industrial agitation by invoking emergency arbitration powers if the strike poses a serious threat to the national economy.