Samsung’s decision to distribute nearly 40 trillion won ($26.6 billion) in bonuses to its chip division employees has faced backlash from workers in non-chip divisions, such as smartphone manufacturing. The affected employees are now seeking a court order to block the payment to their colleagues.
Samsung chip division employees previously went on strike over pay disparities with their counterparts at rival firms, including SK Hynix. After weeks of strikes and concerns about potential production disruptions amid rising AI demand, the South Korean government stepped in to mediate a deal between Samsung and its 48,000 workers to end the strike.
As a result, Samsung agreed to pay nearly $26.6 billion in bonuses to chip workers, with some employees set to receive as much as $416,000. However, the deal has angered non-chip employees and, according to Reuters, they have filed an injunction to stop the vote on the agreement. The Samsung Electronics Co Union (SECU) said it was blocked from participating in the vote despite having 13,000 members.
The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), which has nearly 20,000 members and represents both chip and non-chip workers, announced that it will boycott the vote. Approving the payout plan requires a majority of eligible unionized members to vote in favor; otherwise, Samsung and the unions will have to renegotiate the deal.
Samsung is one of the world’s largest memory chip producers, alongside SK Hynix and Micron. Thanks to the AI boom and rising demand for chips used in AI data centers, the company, alongside rival SK hynix,reported a big jump in chip income.
In light of these strong financial gains, unions have demanded that Samsung remove the cap that restricts bonuses to 50% of annual salaries and set aside 15% of annual operating profit for a bonus pool.
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