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Samsung's wage deal sealed but exposes deep divisions among workers, shareholders

Published: 27 May. 2026, 18:33 Updated: 27 May. 2026, 19:27

Samsung Electronics headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi [YONHAP]

Samsung Electronics and its unions concluded five grueling months of wage negotiations after workers voted to ratify a tentative agreement on Wednesday, averting a strike that had threatened to disrupt the world's top memory chipmaker. But the vote has laid bare deep divisions between the company's chip and consumer electronics workers that are unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

The joint bargaining committee — made up of the Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group United Union (SGUU) and National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) — said 62,616 of 65,593 eligible voters cast ballots, a turnout of 95.5 percent, with 73.7 percent, or 46,142 members, voting in favor of the agreement.

Voting closed at 10 a.m. Wednesday. A signing ceremony between the union and management took place at 11 a.m.

The ratification allows Samsung to put aside what had been described as the gravest strike risk in the company's history and focus on normalizing semiconductor production and supply chains.

But the vote exposed deep fault lines between divisions. In the SGUU, the conglomerate's cross-affiliate union, whose membership is dominated by employees from the semiconductor division (DS), 80.6 percent of the 55,333 participating members voted in favor. In the NSEU, which mainly represents employees from the non-semiconductor consumer electronics and smartphones division (DX), only 21.1 percent, or 1,536 of 7,283 voters, backed the deal, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction with an agreement widely seen as tilted in favor of DS employees.

The Samsung Electronics Labor Union (SECU), a union that mainly represents DX employees, filed for an injunction at the Suwon District Court on Tuesday to halt the vote, which was still underway at the time.

“We will fight to the end to find and win a reasonable alternative for the marginalized DX members in this tentative agreement,” said SECU head Park Jae-yong. A separate injunction filed by DX employees against the SGUU on May 15, alleging that the deal failed to properly reflect their interests, was rejected by the court on Tuesday.

Under the new wage deal, Samsung will allocate a special semiconductor performance bonus equivalent to 10.5 percent of business performance earnings, without a cap, in company shares over the next 10 years. Previously, performance-based bonuses were capped at 50 percent of annual salary.

Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon, center, Samsung Electronics' management negotiator Yeo Myung-koo, left, and Choi Seung-ho, right, head of the Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group United Union, shake hands after signing a tentative wage agreement for 2026. [YONHAP]

In the new bonus pool, 40 percent is shared equally across the three DS units — memory, chip manufacturing and chip design — while the remaining 60 percent is distributed based on each unit's individual performance. The DX division, excluded from this new uncapped profit-sharing pool, is set to receive about 6 million won ($4,000) in company stock per person to maintain internal fairness.

In the meantime, Samsung Electronics said that it will invest 5 trillion won over the next five years to build an ecosystem based on shared growth and to foster future talent following the conclusion of wage negotiations.

The initiative is intended to strengthen corporate social responsibility so that gains from the semiconductor boom can spread beyond employees to society as a whole, according to the company.

“We will further strengthen our social responsibility so that Samsung’s growth and achievements can create a virtuous cycle throughout our society,” Samsung Electronics executives announced the investment plan in a joint message on Wednesday.

Shareholder opposition is also mounting, arguing that the final agreement contains procedural irregularities, including the calculation of performance bonuses, without a shareholder resolution. The Korea Shareholder Rights Movement Association (translated), a local shareholders' advocacy group, said it plans to file a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the agreement after reviewing the outcome of SECU's injunction application.

Rebuilding trust in global markets is another pressing concern. While the immediate strike threat has passed, a prolonged labor dispute risks undermining Samsung's reputation as a stable supplier among its major technology clients worldwide. “We had been watching closely, given how directly tied our revenue is to Samsung, so it is a relief that the strike has been averted,” said an official at one Samsung supplier. “We hope they move quickly to heal the internal divisions that could damage global supply chains.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY YI WOO-LIM [[email protected]]