Samsung's largest labor union suspended an 18-day strike scheduled to begin May 21 after reaching a tentative agreement with the company. The walkout would have involved nearly 48,000 workers and impacted memory chip production, Samsung's most profitable division. Union members will vote on the deal from May 22 to 27, with a final agreement pending approval after negotiations fell through on bonus caps.

Workers had demanded Samsung remove the bonus cap (equivalent to 50% of annual salaries) and allocate 15% of operating profits to bonus pools. Samsung agreed to abolish the cap and set aside 10.5% of annual profits, with 40% earmarked for memory chip division workers. The agreement includes profit contingencies requiring memory division to meet KRW 200 trillion targets through 2035.

South Korea's economy would have suffered significantly from the strike, as Samsung accounts for 12.5% of the nation's GDP. Direct losses could have reached KRW 1 trillion ($669 million), with potential total impact hitting KRW 100 trillion ($66 billion) if production halted completely. The government mediated talks that restarted just hours after the strike announcement, preventing what could have been a major economic disruption.