Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is facing mounting controversy after its labor and management reached a tentative agreement on the 2026 wage negotiation. While employees in the memory chip division are expected to receive about 600 million won in bonuses this year, those in the non-memory business will receive significantly less, sparking internal conflict. Samsung Electronics shareholders have also threatened to file a lawsuit to void the deal, arguing that "allocating bonuses based on pre-tax operating profit circumvents the state's taxation authority."
According to industry sources on Tuesday, the Samsung Electronics labor union will conduct a vote on the tentative agreement until 10 a.m. on the 27th of this month. As of 5:33 p.m. the previous day, the voter turnout for the Samsung Electronics chapter of the Supra-Enterprise Labor Union stood at 85.19%. Of the total 57,291 eligible voters, 48,805 had cast ballots.
On the 20th of this month, Samsung Electronics labor and management reached a tentative agreement on the 2026 wage negotiation that includes paying 10.5% of business performance as a special management bonus to the Device Solutions (DS) division, an average wage increase of 6.2%, and improved employee benefits such as low-interest housing loans of up to 500 million won.
With Samsung Electronics' operating profit consensus (the average forecast by securities firms) for this year expected to reach 350 trillion won, the memory division is projected to receive 600 million won when combining the semiconductor special management bonus with the existing OPI (Overall Performance Incentive), which pays up to 50% of annual salary. Non-memory employees in the System LSI and foundry businesses are estimated to receive about 210 million won.
However, due to the wide bonus gap between the memory and non-memory divisions, complaints are emerging within the company. The backlash is particularly strong among employees in the Device eXperience (DX) division.
Earlier on the 22nd, the Suwon chapter of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NESU) and the executive committee of the Donghaeng Union held a press conference in front of Samsung Electronics' Suwon Digital City, declaring that "this wage negotiation has effectively been reduced to a bonus negotiation centered on the memory chip division," and announced they would launch a campaign to vote down the tentative agreement. They argued that it is unfair for only the memory division to receive large bonuses, despite the DX division having generated stable operating profits during the period when the semiconductor business was struggling. Indeed, even though the DX division is generating an operating surplus unlike the non-memory division, it will receive smaller stock compensation of around 6 million won (compared with the non-memory division).
However, the industry generally expects the tentative agreement to pass. Looking at the number of union members by division, DS has approximately 77,300 members, ahead of DX with about 51,700.
Samsung Electronics shareholders are also strongly opposing the bonus deal. The "Republic of Korea Shareholder Movement Headquarters," a Samsung Electronics shareholder group, on the 21st of this month declared the tentative wage agreement between Samsung Electronics labor and management illegal and signaled legal action.
The Shareholder Movement Headquarters argued that "a labor-management tentative agreement that calculates 12% of pre-tax operating profit in advance and links and allocates it as bonuses is illegal," adding that "it is legally void unless it goes through the resolution procedure of the shareholders' meeting." It further stated, "Forming a bonus pool of approximately 12% of operating profit by combining the 1.5% OPI and the 10.5% special management bonus is illegal in nature, regardless of whether the payment timing is post-tax, as long as the basis for calculating the pool is a fixed percentage of pre-tax operating profit."
The Shareholder Movement Headquarters cited three main grounds of illegality. First, calculating bonuses before tax collection circumvents the state's taxation authority, so operating profit must first be subject to corporate tax and other deductions before becoming the subject of distribution.
Second, even at the post-tax profit stage, funds cannot flow out of the company without going through the "procedure for calculating distributable profit" stipulated in Article 462, Paragraph 1 of the Commercial Act.
In addition, they explained that the right to distribute the calculated distributable profit must also belong to shareholders who invested by bearing risks and losses. In other words, they argue that bonuses must be calculated through a shareholders' meeting.
The Shareholder Movement Headquarters also cited remarks made by President Lee Jae-myung at a State Council meeting on the 20th, when he said, "Institutionally dividing up a fixed percentage of operating profit before even paying taxes is something that not even investors can do," as grounds for illegality.
The Shareholder Movement Headquarters plans to file a lawsuit seeking confirmation of nullity and an injunction if a board resolution to ratify and execute the tentative agreement is brought forward. It also signaled that it would file a representative lawsuit seeking damages against all directors who approved the tentative agreement, citing a violation of "directors' duty of loyalty" under the Commercial Act. In addition, the group said it would pursue an injunction to suspend the effect of the collective agreement that bypassed the shareholders' meeting resolution, a lawsuit to confirm its nullity, and damages claims against participants in the illegal strike.
