Samsung’s two largest unions have voted in favor of a pay deal that will give the company’s chip workers up to $400,000 in bonuses this year. According to Yonhap News73.7 percent of the two unions’ 62,616 members voted in favor of the deal during a six-day voting period that began May 22. Although the union has not released official bonus figures, Samsung is expected to reap up to KRW 300 trillion in operating profit this year, which would result in payments of up to KRW 600 million ($400,000) for each of the 28,000 employees in the deal. the company’s chip division.
Bloomberg According to its calculations, Samsung is expected to distribute 40 trillion KRW ($26.6 billion) for payments, and the average is around $340,000 per employee. Regardless of the actual amount, members of Samsung’s most lucrative division will receive bonuses around three times their annual salary. The company will pay out the stock bonuses over at least 10 years, provided the memory division earns at least 200 trillion KRW ($133 billion) in annual profit from 2026 to 2028 and 100 trillion KRW ($66 billion) from 2029 to 2035.
Samsung’s largest union has threatened an 18-day strike starting May 21 after failing to reach an agreement with the company over the bonus issue. The union has 48,000 members, most of whom work for the company’s chip division. A walkout could have had a huge impact not only on Samsung, but also on South Korea as a whole, given that the company accounts for 12.5% ​​of the country’s GDP. South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said he expected direct losses from the 18-day strike to reach around 1 trillion KRW ($669 million).
The parties reached an agreement just an hour before the strike began, with the help of South Korean Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon, who intervened as mediator. Despite the majority vote in favor of the agreement, Bloomberg reported that the bonus structure causes tension and fuels resentment among colleagues.
Samsung agreed to abolish caps on workers’ bonuses, in line with the union’s demands, and set aside 10.5 percent of its annual operating profits for these payments. Workers in the chip division, which brings in most of the company’s money, receive 40 percent of total bonuses. Meanwhile, all other divisions will have to share the rest. Workers in Samsung’s smartphone, TV and appliance sectors are only expected to receive a bonus of around 6 million KRW ($4,000), which is minimal compared to what chip workers receive. In Samsung’s largest union, 80 percent reportedly voted for the pay deal. But in the smallest union that represents the largest number of non-chip workers, only 21 percent voted in favor.
