Samsung's labor union suspends strike following tentative agreement

The company's shares rose more than 6 percent following the suspension of the 18-day strike.

Samsung’s workers have reached a tentative agreement with the company following negotiations. The labor union notes that the agreement hasn’t been finalized, but that the gap between the two has narrowed. The agreement has resulted in the suspension of the 18-day strike, which in turn has seen Samsung share price rise.

Samsung’s labor unions have reached a tentative agreement with Samsung Electronics CNBC reported on May 20, 2026. This tentative agreement led to the union suspending the planned 18-day strike, which was estimated to cost 1 trillion won in losses. “The economic loss could rise to as much as 100 trillion won if chip production disruptions force Samsung to scrap semiconductor wafers already in production.” Lim Hui Jie wrote.

The agreement itself isn’t final. However, Reuters reported that Samsung would allocate 10.5 percent of the operating profit to the chip division. Samsung is also reportedly accepting a move to link bonuses to operating profits and remove the bonus cap. Previously, the union had requested 15 percent of the operating profit.

The news of the tentative agreement and strike suspension saw Samsung Electronics shares rise by 6 percent. This rise follows on from Samsung’s Q1 2026 earnings report which saw the company beat expectations on revenue and operating profit. The company attributes the figures to AI demand.

Shacknews staff does not use generative artificial intelligence (AI) in their content. Shacknews strictly prohibits the use of its content for AI training or to generate text, including text in the style or format used for this publication. Shacknews reserves all rights to this work.