Plot Twist at Samsung Biologics: Seoul High Court Extends Strike Ban to All Nine Core Bioprocess Stages; Oct 26 Walkout Postponed

Less than ten days before a planned three-week general strike, the Seoul High Court expanded its injunction from three to all nine core drug-substance manufacturing stages at the Songdo campus, and the union subsequently postponed the October 26 walkout. For the first time, the "unpausable" nature of biologics manufacturing has been written into labor rules via an injunction with financial penalties — and for global clients, the real test remains delivery certainty.

On October 19 we reported that Samsung Biologics' union had called a second general strike for October 26, lasting three weeks. The plot has now twisted: on October 16, the Seoul High Court ruled on the company's appeal, expanding the injunction against industrial action from the final three stages — the only ones protected by the lower court in April — to all nine core drug-substance manufacturing stages at the Songdo campus in Incheon. According to Fierce Pharma and multiple Korean outlets, the union subsequently postponed the walkout it had planned for October 26.

Which nine stages are covered, and why it matters

The injunction covers: seed (flask) culture, bioreactor culture, harvest, media preparation and supply, chromatography, viral filtration, concentration and buffer exchange, drug-substance filling, and buffer preparation and supply — essentially the entire continuous production chain from cell culture to DS filling. The court classified these as work "necessary to prevent the deterioration or spoilage of raw materials and products": even during industrial action, these stages must run with the same staffing, working hours, production scale and duty of care as normal, with indirect enforcement costs of 20 million won (about US$13,100) per violation. The ruling also weighed potential losses from a halt and supply disruption for treatments with no substitutes.

The industrial logic is straightforward: living-cell culture cannot be paused, and an interruption does not delay a batch — it typically destroys it. For the world's largest biologics CDMO, with 845,000 liters of capacity, the injunction amounts to a judicial confirmation that continuous production is legally non-interruptible.

Why the strike was postponed

The union counts roughly 4,000 members, about 73% of the company's 5,455 employees. Talks have been deadlocked since March: after three rounds of mediation failed in September, the union demanded a 15% base-pay increase plus a 15% share of operating profit (some reports cite 9.5% plus a fixed payment), which the company called unacceptable and countered with 6.2% plus interest support for employee stock purchases. After the injunction, the union canceled a planned mid-week rally and said it would appeal while reviewing its strike schedule — the strike option has not been abandoned. The union has also demanded collective bargaining with second-largest shareholder Samsung Electronics and petitioned the Korea Exchange and the Financial Services Commission over a capital increase.

May's precedent, and the client's point of view

The first general strike lasted five days in May; the company said proactive production adjustments resulted in roughly 150 billion won (about US$102M) in sales losses. In its latest statement, Samsung Biologics stressed that biologics manufacturing "depends on living cells and time-sensitive steps" and that its business-continuity plans cover every client's batches, deliveries and staffing, with clients notified directly of any changes.

Three takeaways go beyond one company. First, "delivery certainty" at CDMOs is becoming a legally definable asset: by extending protection to the culture stages, the appellate court effectively recognized the non-interruptibility of the entire biologics production chain — a landmark in global CDMO labor disputes. Second, buyers now need to price labor risk at single mega-capacity nodes: dual sourcing and multi-region backup are moving from slogan to budget line. Third, Samsung Biologics reports Q3 results on October 27, and how much the strike cloud has lifted will shape the market's read of its 2026 guidance and order book. The union has not abandoned the strike option, so the story may still zigzag — but in the short term, the world's largest biologics CDMO's delivery risk now has a judicial backstop.