Samsung Electronics filed a court application on Thursday to ban its South Korean union from carrying out illegal activities during a planned strike, a spokesman said. The current wage dispute may disrupt the production operations of the world's largest memory chip manufacturer.
Samsung did not elaborate on the specifics of the legal action. The union called the move a "declaration of war" and accused the company of violating its legally protected right to strike.
Samsung's unionized workers voted last month to authorize an 18-day strike from May 21 if they cannot agree on a pay package with management.
The union also plans to hold a large rally on April 23 to increase pressure on Samsung during wage negotiations.
Samsung employees, dissatisfied with lower pay than at local rival SK Hynix, are demanding that the company remove caps on performance pay and link bonuses to operating profits.
Samsung expects operating profit to reach 57.2 trillion won (approximately $38.85 billion) from January to March this year, soaring more than eightfold from 6.69 trillion won in the same period last year.
The head of Samsung's labor union told Reuters that if a strike occurs, it may affect about half of the production capacity of Samsung's large semiconductor park in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul.
As the world's largest memory chip manufacturer, a strike by Samsung may exacerbate global semiconductor supply tensions. The current demand for artificial intelligence data center business is strong, and the supply of chips is already tight, which has caused many industries such as automobiles, computers, and smartphones to face supply constraints.