"Union's Demand for 450 Million Won Bonus Per Person Shakes Samsung Electronics: 'Why Only You?'"

Samsung Union Strike Vote Nears End
Turnout Surpasses 70% in Just One Week
Tensions Surface Between DS and DX Divisions

As the vote on industrial action by the Samsung Electronics labor union enters its final stage, tensions between the Device Solutions (DS) and Device eXperience (DX) divisions have come to the surface.

Employees are arriving at the Samsung Electronics Seocho Building in Seoul. Photo by Yongjun Cho jun21@

According to industry sources on March 15, the Joint Struggle Headquarters of the Samsung Electronics union plans to conclude the vote on industrial action on March 18. On the first day of voting, March 9, the turnout surpassed 50%, and as of the afternoon of March 13, it had reached 72.6%. At this pace, it is projected that the turnout could reach the 90% range by the end of the voting period.

Employees in the DX division, which is responsible for smartphones and home appliances, are expressing dissatisfaction, arguing that the union’s core demand to abolish the upper limit on the Over-Profit Incentive (OPI) only benefits the semiconductor business division. The controversy has intensified after it was recently revealed that the union leader demanded a performance bonus of 450 million won for the Memory Business Division during negotiations.

Given that 77.9% of union members belong to the DS division, there are criticisms that the union only represents DS interests. One employee from the DX division pointed out, “There are plenty of business units in DX that cannot even approach the upper limit. Abolishing the cap ultimately means only DS employees will benefit more.”

In fact, in the fourth quarter of last year, the operating profit for the DS division was 16.4 trillion won, while the DX division posted 1.3 trillion won—a gap of more than tenfold. As the DS division’s performance is expected to rise even further this year due to the memory supercycle, the performance bonus gap between the divisions is likely to widen further if the cap is abolished.

The union will close the vote on March 18, and if it secures a majority in favor, it has announced plans for a general strike in May.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.