Samsung consumer electronics union asks court to block vote on pay deal

SEOUL – A Samsung Electronics’ union representing the conglomerate’s consumer electronics workers said on May 26 that it has asked a South Korean court to block a vote on a pay deal that primarily benefits their colleagues in the company’s chip divisions.

The government-mediated agreement reached last week, which averted an 18-day strike by 48,000 workers, provides huge bonuses for workers in Samsung’s memory chip division, which has seen profits soar amid the artificial intelligence boom.

Voting by unionised workers began on May 22 and is due to conclude on the morning of May 27.

The Samsung Electronics Co Union (SECU), which has about 13,000 members, mostly from the company’s smartphone, TV and home appliances divisions, said in a statement that it had taken legal action after being told it had no right to join the vote.

Disagreements caused the SECU to leave the negotiating team before the agreement was reached.

Debate over sharing AI riches

Negotiations were led by the Samsung Electronics Labour Union, which said on May 26 that more than 90 per cent of its 57,290 members who are eligible to vote had cast ​their ballot.

How they voted was not disclosed.

Approval requires a majority of eligible unionised members to take part and a majority of those members to vote ​in favour. Otherwise, negotiations must restart from scratch.

Some consumer electronics employees at a separate union, the ⁠National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), which has also said it is upset with the terms of the deal, are voting against the deal, NSEU official Lee Ho-seok told Reuters.

He said some foundry workers in Samsung’s chip division are also frustrated with the deal, and expressed hope that the deal would be voted down, even if that may be unlikely.

“We hope to pull off a miracle,” he said.

The NSEU has some 20,000 members, according to its website. The majority are chip workers.

Samsung accounts for about a quarter of South Korea’s exports, and the deal has sparked much relief across the country. However, the dispute has exposed deep divisions over how the spoils of the AI boom should be shared.

Some of the company’s memory chip workers are set to receive total bonuses of about US$416,000 (S$532,000) in 2026.

Workers in Samsung’s foundry and logic chip design units will receive much smaller but still substantial bonuses, while those employed in other divisions such as smartphones and home appliances will receive even smaller bonuses.

A small group of individual shareholders has also announced that it will sue if the deal is ratified by union members, arguing that parts of the agreement were unlawful unless they were approved by shareholders.

Samsung’s shares ended 2.2 per cent higher on May 26. They have gained 8 per cent since the deal was struck last week, though that rise has underperformed an 18 per cent surge for rival SK Hynix. REUTERS