In front of the Samsung Electronics Seocho office, a one-person protest was held criticizing the recent behavior of the labor union. The Samsung Electronics union has announced a strike demanding higher bonuses.
A man in his 60s, a person surnamed Park, from the morning of the 15th stood in front of the Samsung Electronics building in Seocho-dong, Seoul, holding a picket for a one-person protest. On the picket titled "A shout to the Samsung Electronics union," he wrote six items. Through the picket, Park said, "At times, you need to 'know when to be satisfied,'" and noted, "The current performance was not achieved by 'your own extraordinary ability' alone." He added, "It was achieved through the 'support, concessions, and sacrifices of the entire nation' in both material and moral terms," and said, "We should look back on water and electricity, and the society's direct and indirect capital." Identifying as neither a conservative nor a progressive nor a shareholder, but "a person who loves Samsung," Park requested a meeting with the union Chairperson.
Samsung Electronics currently operates under a multiple-union system with five unions active. Among them, the larger ones — ▲ the Samsung Group supra-enterprise labor union Samsung Electronics branch (supra-enterprise union), ▲ the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union, and ▲ the Samsung Electronics Donghaeng Union — formed a joint bargaining team in Nov. last year and have been conducting 2026 wage and collective bargaining (wage and collective agreement) with management. Negotiations went on for about three months, but failing to narrow differences, talks broke down in Feb.
Afterward, the Samsung Electronics union formed a joint struggle headquarters and, in a strike action vote held in Mar., secured majority approval and announced a "May general strike." A rally is also planned for the 23rd.
In response, management sought to resolve the conflict by proposing that if the DS (semiconductor) division achieves No. 1 in the domestic industry, it would provide compensation exceeding the cap on overachievement performance bonuses (OPI) through special awards, among other measures. However, the union insisted on a permanent removal of the cap through a system change. The union is raising the pressure, currently demanding performance bonuses equal to 15% of operating profit from management.