A minority union at Samsung Electronics plans to seek a court injunction to suspend a new wage agreement, arguing the deal unfairly favors employees in the company’s semiconductor division. A lawyer representing the union confirmed the planned legal action.
The Samsung Electronics Device eXperience (DX) Union, which primarily represents workers in the company’s mobile device and home appliance divisions, will ask a South Korean court to halt the implementation of the 2024 pay increase. The wage agreement was reached in late March between the company and its labor-management council.
According to statements from Samsung Electronics, the deal includes an average pay increase of 5.1%. However, the DX Union contends that the structure of the agreement, which includes performance-based incentives, disproportionately benefits workers in the more profitable Device Solutions (DS) division, which oversees the company’s semiconductor business.
The DX Union was not a direct party to the negotiations that resulted in the agreement. In South Korea, companies can negotiate wages with a labor-management council, which consists of representatives from both employees and management, if a majority union is not present or does not engage in collective bargaining.
Park Ji-won, an attorney representing the DX Union, stated that the legal filing will argue that the process for reaching the wage agreement was procedurally flawed and that its terms create an inequitable pay structure between different business units within the company.
This development occurs amid a broader context of increasing labor organization at Samsung Electronics, a company that for decades operated without union representation. Several unions have formed in recent years, including the larger National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), which has also expressed opposition to the wage deal settled by the council.
The NSEU, which is the largest of the company’s unions, has been holding separate protests and has reportedly been preparing for a potential strike vote after its own wage negotiations with management stalled.
Samsung Electronics has not issued a public statement specifically addressing the planned injunction by the DX Union. The company previously stated that the 5.1% increase was determined after a comprehensive review of internal and external factors.
If the court grants the injunction, it would temporarily suspend the wage agreement while the legal challenge proceeds. A decision on the injunction request is expected in the coming weeks.
