Samsung Electronics’ largest labor union, the Samsung Group Super-Enterprise Labor Union Samsung Branch (Super-Enterprise Union), has declared it will not form a joint bargaining unit for next year’s wage negotiations and has formally proposed separate bargaining to the rival Samsung Electronics Labor Union Donghaeng (Donghaeng Union).<\/p>\n
In an official letter sent to the Donghaeng Union on the 20th, the Super-Enterprise Union stated, “Based on current membership figures, our union is expected to become the bargaining representative union for 2027,” adding, “Considering the unilateral withdrawal and the injunction to suspend the wage agreement that occurred during the 2026 joint bargaining unit process, we will not form a joint bargaining unit in 2027 and will proceed with a single bargaining framework under the bargaining channel unification procedure.”<\/p>\n
The Super-Enterprise Union is Samsung Electronics’ largest union, composed primarily of employees from the Device Solutions (DS) division, which handles the semiconductor business. As of that afternoon, its membership stood at approximately 53,400. In contrast, the Donghaeng Union, centered on the Device Experience (DX) division covering home appliances, TVs, and smartphones, has approximately 30,500 members. Under the multi-union system, if voluntary unification of bargaining representatives is not achieved, the majority union becomes the bargaining representative union. Given its membership size, the Super-Enterprise Union views it as highly likely that it will lead next year’s negotiations.<\/p>\n
The Super-Enterprise Union plans to focus next year’s bargaining demands on improving working conditions in the DS division. In particular, it is preparing improved treatment for System LSI and Foundry Business employees as core demands. A Super-Enterprise Union representative explained, “Given the high turnover intention among System LSI and Foundry employees, we are in a situation where we must firmly address areas requiring improvement,” adding, “We determined that protecting members’ rights through a joint bargaining unit would be difficult.”<\/p>\n
The Super-Enterprise Union requested that the Donghaeng Union “consider applying for bargaining unit separation if it determines that a single bargaining framework cannot adequately reflect the union’s position.” The intent is effectively for DS and DX to bargain separately with the company, reflecting each division’s business conditions and working conditions, rather than forming a single joint bargaining unit.<\/p>\n
Behind the Super-Enterprise Union’s refusal to form a joint bargaining unit lies the assessment that DS and DX finances and management are already separated. A Super-Enterprise Union representative stated, “Finances and management have been separated since 2009,” adding, “Our position has always been that joint bargaining is meaningless, and we have now clearly communicated this.”<\/p>\n
The union also cited the business briefing held on the 19th, hosted by Roh Tae-moon, head of Samsung Electronics’ DX division. The Super-Enterprise Union explained, “The company officially acknowledged that differences in business performance and working conditions exist between divisions,” adding, “This is consistent with the judgment made in February when the Super-Enterprise Union, the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union, and the Donghaeng Union entered focused negotiations agreeing on the direction of financial separation between divisions.” It further noted, “For 2027 negotiations as well, designing demands that reflect division-specific realities is inevitable.”<\/p>\n
Regarding the DX division, the union maintains that while considering the recent business situation, separate compensation demands such as settlement bonuses are possible. A Super-Enterprise Union representative said, “DX’s business conditions are poor, but our position is to pursue settlement bonuses and other compensation.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, at the briefing on the 19th, management formalized the DX division’s weak performance and the performance-based compensation principle. Management assessed that while DX division revenue grew approximately 2% year-over-year in the first half, operating profit fell sharply due to factors including memory prices that rose more than fourfold compared to last year. According to Samsung Electronics’ semi-annual report, DX division’s first-half operating profit was 2.1 trillion won (approximately $1.5 billion), just a quarter of last year’s first-half figure of 8 trillion won (approximately $5.7 billion).<\/p>\n
In particular, rising mobile memory purchase prices appear to have worsened profitability at the MX Business, which handles the mobile business. Samsung Electronics sources memory from U.S.-based Micron and Japan-based Kioxia, and mobile memory purchase prices rose approximately 211% compared to last year’s average. Management projected that as long as memory price increases continue, the MX Business will struggle to escape losses in the near term.<\/p>\n
CEO Roh Tae-moon stated, “We will return to a normal trajectory as quickly as possible through AI-driven innovation and efficiency,” adding, “We will actively support company-wide employee training for future growth drivers such as RX (robot innovation) and AX (AI transformation), as well as the efficient use of AI.”<\/p>\n
The company explained the background of the “division system” that separates finished products and components businesses, and conveyed that additional compensation is effectively difficult regarding compensation complaints raised by DX division employees. Samsung Electronics explained that since 2009, it has operated finished products (now DX) and components (DS) businesses separately, considering that customers of its components businesses\u2014semiconductors and displays\u2014become competitors in the finished products market. To prevent confidential information from component customers flowing to the finished products division, the company even separated management support functions including HR, finance, and accounting, effectively operating as “two companies under one roof.”<\/p>\n
In fact, the company explained that when DS division faced financial difficulties during the semiconductor downturn that lasted three to four years through last year, funds earned by the MX Business were used for semiconductor investment, but the DS division later repaid the MX Business with interest. Since the introduction of the division system in 2009, there has been no case where one division’s surplus performance bonus funds were shared with another division, according to the company.<\/p>\n
The Donghaeng Union, claiming that the DX division was marginalized in the wage agreement reached in May this year, plans to hold a rally near Samsung Electronics’ Seocho headquarters on the afternoon of the 21st. With an expected attendance of approximately 3,000 people, the Donghaeng Union argues that the compensation gap with the DS division is excessive.<\/p>\n
The labor-management conflict at Samsung Electronics is showing a pattern where union interests are diverging as the performance gap between divisions becomes structural. While the DS division’s performance is improving due to rising memory prices, the DX division faces worsening profitability as rising memory purchase prices act as a cost burden. The demand for separate bargaining between unions demonstrates how the performance and compensation gap between divisions is leading to structural fractures in labor relations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samsung Electronics’ largest labor union, the Samsung Group Super-Enterprise Labor Union Samsung Branch (Super-Enterprise Union), has declared it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[41496,41495,13573,55486,22234,127,276,65139,65138,13575],"class_list":["post-126750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-samsung-electronics","tag-device-experience-dx-division","tag-device-solutions-ds-division","tag-foundry-business","tag-mx-business","tag-roh-tae-moon","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-electronics","tag-samsung-electronics-labor-union-donghaeng","tag-samsung-group-super-enterprise-labor-union-samsung-branch","tag-system-lsi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}