Samsung’s two biggest unions have voted in favor of a wage settlement that would give the company’s chip workers a bonus of up to $400,000 this year. according to yonhap newsDuring a six-day voting period that began on May 22, 73.7 percent of the 62,616 members of both unions voted to approve the deal. Although the union has not released formal numbers for the bonuses, Samsung is expected to reach 300 trillion KRW in operating profit this year, leading to a payout of up to 600 million KRW ($400,000) for each of its 28,000 employees. The company’s chip division.
bloomberg Samsung is said to be distributing KRW 40 trillion ($26.6 billion) in payouts, and based on their calculations they distribute an average of over $340,000 per employee. Regardless of the actual amount, people in Samsung’s top money-making division will get bonuses nearly three times larger than their annual salaries. The company will pay bonuses in company stock over at least 10 years, contingent on the memory division making at least KRW 200 trillion ($133 billion) in annual profit from 2026 to 2028 and KRW 100 trillion ($66 billion) from 2029 to 2035.
Samsung’s largest union threatened to go on an 18-day strike starting May 21 after failing to reach an agreement with the company on the bonus issue. The union has 48,000 members, most of whom work for the company’s chip division. The walkout could have a huge impact not only on Samsung, but also on South Korea as a whole, as the company accounts for 12.5 percent of the country’s GDP. South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said he expected direct losses from the 18-day strike to reach approximately KRW 1 trillion ($669 million).
With the help of South Korea’s Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon, who stepped in to act as mediator, the two sides reached an agreement just an hour before the strike was to begin. Despite the majority voting in favor of the agreement, bloomberg It was reported that the bonus structure was creating tension and increasing resentment among colleagues.
In line with the union’s demands, Samsung agreed to waive employee bonus limits and set aside 10.5 percent of its annual operating profit for payments. Chip division employees, who make most of the company’s money, are receiving 40 percent of the total bonus pool. Meanwhile, all other divisions will have to divide the remaining portion among themselves. Workers at Samsung’s smartphone, TV and home appliance units are set to receive a bonus of only KRW 6 million ($4,000), which is much less than the bonuses chip workers receive. Within Samsung’s largest union, 80 percent reportedly voted for the wage agreement. But within the smaller union which represents more non-chip workers, only 21 per cent voted in favour.
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