Talks between Samsung Electronics and its South Korean labor union stretched into the early hours of Wednesday as the government and business groups piled pressure on the parties to avert a damaging and lengthy strike.
The two sides are seeking to hash out a deal on bonus payments before nearly 48,000 workers walk off the job for 18 days on Thursday.
A strike of that magnitude and length has the potential to inflict significant damage on South Korea's economy as Samsung accounts for almost a quarter of the country's exports. Samsung is also the world's largest memory chip maker and production disruptions could dent global supply at a time when the boom in artificial intelligence has caused shortages.
Park Su-keun, chair of the National Labor Relations Commission, which is mediating the talks, said earlier on Tuesday that the two sides had narrowed some differences and made concessions but remained stuck on two key issues, on which he declined to elaborate.
Samsung declined to comment. A union representative said the union was making every effort to come up with a plan to satisfy its members.
While the threat of the strike has put South Korea on edge, investors were encouraged after the government threatened to step in and order emergency arbitration. That would prevent the strike from going ahead for 30 days while the government mediates talks.
The strike could in a worst-case scenario shave 0.5 percentage points off a forecast 2.0% expansion for the South Korean economy this year, according to an official from the country's central bank.
