Samsung Electronics Labor Union Pushes to Improve Performance Bonus Gap in Non-Memory Division

The Samsung Electronics branch of the Samsung Group's Super-Corporate Labor Union is pushing to improve the deficit business unit penalty applied to the special management performance bonuses of the Device Solutions (DS) division.

Today (the 22nd), the union announced that the proposal to improve the DS deficit penalty was passed with an 81.03% approval rate (26,947 members) in a vote held from the 14th to today.

A total of 33,256 union members participated in this vote.

Among the participating union members by business unit, there were 13,517 from the Memory Business Unit, 9,744 from common organizations, 3,179 from the System LSI Business Unit, 6,138 from the Foundry Business Unit, 197 from CSS (Power Semiconductor), and 481 others.

Accordingly, the union plans to reflect the revision of the payment criteria for special management performance bonuses in deficit business units into its 2027 negotiation demands.

This vote was aimed at improving the special performance bonus payment penalty for deficit business units in the DS division, which is scheduled to take effect starting next year.

Previously, Samsung Electronics labor and management agreed through wage negotiations last May to establish a special management performance bonus funded by 10.5% of the DS division's operating profit.

The core of the special performance bonus is to commonly allocate 40% of the funding to the entire DS division and differentially distribute the remaining 60% based on the performance of each business unit.

As a result, unlike the memory business unit, which is posting record-breaking performance, non-memory business units such as System LSI and Foundry, which have been suffering from sluggish performance, will only receive the common funding (40%), raising complaints that the performance bonus gap between business units could widen.

The union has argued for the necessity of improvement, noting that if the deficit penalty—which was not applied this year—is reflected starting in 2027, the payment gap between business units could become even more severe.

However, the union explained that if the improvement plan is actually implemented, union members in the memory business unit and common organizations could see their performance bonus payouts decrease by about 10 million to 20 million won after taxes.

The union stated that despite conflicting interests among business units, it is pushing for institutional improvements to ensure solidarity across the entire DS division and alleviate the performance bonus gap.

Choi Seung-ho, head of the Super-Corporate Labor Union, said, "Based on the voting results, we will prepare the demand for improving the DS deficit penalty as a negotiation agenda," adding, "We will also thoroughly prepare other agendas for the DS division in cooperation with the policy committee."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.