Samsung Electronics Wage Deal Vote Closes May 27 With Approval Set to Pass, Bonus Gap Fuels Tensions

Voting by union members on a tentative 2026 wage agreement between Samsung Electronics Co. and its labor unions closes at 10 a.m. on May 27.

The proposal is widely expected to pass because a large majority of union members work in the company’s DS, or Device Solutions, semiconductor division. Even so, friction over performance-pay disparities between business units is poised to persist.

The Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group Labor Union Federation and the National Samsung Electronics Union are conducting the vote through 10 a.m. on May 27. The final tally, combining votes from both unions, is due around 10:30 a.m.

As of 5 p.m. on May 26, combined turnout stood at 92.4%.

At the Samsung Group Labor Union Federation chapter, the company’s largest union, 53,484 of 57,316 eligible voters had cast ballots, for turnout of 93.31%. At the National Samsung Electronics Union, 7,039 of 8,187 eligible voters participated, for turnout of 85.98%.

With at least 32,752 of the 65,503 eligible voters already having taken part, the turnout threshold has been cleared. The tentative agreement will be approved if more than half of those votes, or at least 16,376, are in favor.

Because turnout has already surpassed the required majority, the focus is now on the number of yes votes.

The South Korean IT industry broadly sees the deal passing.

As of late March, about 80% of members in the Samsung Group Labor Union Federation chapter belonged to the DS division. The memory business alone accounted for 21,220 members, bolstering support for the tentative agreement.

Still, employees in the DX, or Device eXperience, division, which oversees smartphones and home appliances, have pushed back over the bonus gap. That leaves internal strains unresolved.

Under the tentative agreement, if Samsung Electronics posts annual operating profit of 300 trillion won this year, employees in the memory business could receive performance-based compensation of as much as $434,800, based on a pretax annual salary of $72,500.

That total includes about $398,600 in special management performance bonuses paid in company stock and $36,200 in excess profit incentive, or OPI, payments.

Employees in the foundry and System LSI businesses are also set to receive about $152,200 in performance pay through adjustments to divisional funding.

By contrast, the DX division may receive only company stock worth about $4,300 as a special management performance bonus.

Against that backdrop, Samsung Electronics labor union Donghaeng, a smaller union led mainly by DX division employees, filed for an injunction with the Suwon District Court on May 26 seeking to halt the voting process.

Donghaeng argued that the Samsung Group Labor Union Federation chapter excluded it from bargaining and voting procedures to check organizing within the DX division.

The larger union rejected that claim, saying Donghaeng had voluntarily withdrawn from the joint bargaining group before the tentative agreement was reached and therefore has no voting rights in this round.

Park Sang-kyung, Hankyung.com reporter highseoul@hankyung.com