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A district court put the brakes on Samsung Electronics unions’ plan to go on strike for 18 days starting Thursday, partially banning a labor action that would shut down production facilities as it accepted most of Samsung management’s requests on Monday. The injunction ruling came just as the company’s labor and management resumed talks in an additional government-arranged mediation session to discuss the unions’ demands for higher performance-based bonuses and the removal of a payout cap. Although the ruling still allows the walkout, it effectively undermines the unions’ leverage because it ordered them to maintain minimum operations to prevent damage to production facilities and raw materials. In the ruling, the Suwon District Court said that the workforce must be maintained at normal levels even during a strike, in order to prevent potential damage to safety-related and other facilities, as well as the company’s products. It also accepted management’s argument that wafer preservation falls under essential work that should continue, in order to prevent damage to production fa