Unionised workers of Samsung vote to accept wage deal
Seoul, May 27
Unionised workers at Samsung Electronics voted to approve a wage agreement, the union said on Wednesday, easing concerns about potential disruptions to the global supply chain.
In the six-day vote, 73.7 percent of the 62,616 members of the tech giant's two largest unions approved the tentative deal. The agreement was finalised after a majority of eligible voters took part in the vote and a majority voted in favour of the proposal, reports Yonhap news agency.
The labour union and management reached the agreement just an hour before an 18-day strike was set to begin at the world's top memory chipmaker last Thursday.
Labour and management had been deadlocked since late last year over performance-based bonuses tied to earnings from the company's artificial intelligence-related semiconductor business amid the ongoing global memory chip boom.
Under the deal, Samsung will allocate a special semiconductor performance bonus equivalent to 10.5 percent of business performance earnings, without a cap.
The special bonuses will be paid in company stock over at least 10 years, based on targets for the chip division to achieve more than 200 trillion won (US$132 billion) in annual operating profit from 2026 to 2028 and 100 trillion won from 2029 to 2035.
Of the total bonus pool, 40 percent will be allocated to the division as a whole, while 60 percent will be distributed to individual business units.
Based on forecasts that Samsung's operating profit could reach 300 trillion won this year, the agreement could translate into bonus payouts of up to 600 million won for each of the 28,000 employees in the company's profitable chip division.
Meanwhile, a minor labour union led by members of the non-semiconductor unit of Samsung Electronics filed for a court injunction Tuesday, requesting a suspension of the vote on a tentative wage deal reached with management last week.
Unionised members said it made the legal request with the Suwon District Court earlier in the day, claiming the largest labor union at the company did not respect their rights to equality and to cast their votes.
"We will fight until the very end to seek and attain a rational alternative, for the marginalised union members of the device experience (DX) division," the union said, adding it also plans to file a lawsuit to nullify the vote.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Interesting how Samsung's unionised workers in South Korea have such strong bargaining power. In India, we rarely see tech giants facing strikes like this. The deal's structure, linking bonuses to AI chip profits, seems fair but also risky. If operating profit falls short, employees get less. Still, 600 million won per employee is a huge payout! 🤑
The minor union's opposition is concerning. They claim their rights were ignored in the vote, which is a valid democratic issue. In a large organisation, ensuring all workers' voices are heard is crucial, especially in such a complex profit-sharing deal. The court's decision will be key. This could set a precedent for labour-management relations in Korean conglomerates.
I appreciate the transparency in the article. The bonus structure is quite innovative - linking to specific profit targets over a decade shows long-term commitment. But I wonder about the non-semiconductor division employees. They seem left out, which explains the minor union's challenge. Fairness across departments is important.
All this while, I thought Samsung was a strict no-union company! 😲 Shows how Korean labour laws have evolved. The 18-day strike threat was bold, but the deal was reached just in time. For us in India reliant on Samsung's memory chips for our gadgets, this is a relief. No supply chain disruptions means affordable phones and laptops.
The math is impressive - 300 trillion won operating profit could mean 600 million won per employee in the chip division. That's around ₹3.5 crore per worker! 👀 For
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