For the first time since Samsung Electronics was founded, a union that has secured more than half of the workforce as members has officially launched. A majority union secures the status of employee representative and is legally guaranteed various authorities. As the bargaining power of the union leading the "May general strike" rises, there is growing assessment that Samsung Electronics faces greater labor-relations risk.
The Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group's cross-enterprise labor union (hereinafter, the cross-enterprise union) said at a press briefing held in front of Samsung Electronics' Seocho office in Seoul on the morning of the 17th that it had officially confirmed majority-union status. The cross-enterprise union had claimed majority status on Jan. 29, saying membership had exceeded 62,500. Since then, labor and management conducted a verification of union membership to secure employee-representative status through the Gyeonggi District Office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL). With majority status recently confirmed, the union officially declared the securing of employee-representative status on this day. The cross-enterprise union has 75,300 members.
Cross-enterprise union Chairperson Choi Seung-ho said, "For the first time since Samsung Electronics was founded, we declare the achievement of a 'majority union,'" adding, "In just seven months, our roughly 6,000 members in September grew to about 75,000, and this is the result of the earnest voices of employees who want change at Samsung Electronics coming together as one."
Choi added, "We have secured the legal status of employee representative through the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL)'s legitimate verification procedures," and said, "The era in which a labor-management council unilaterally operated by management represents employees is over, and only the cross-enterprise union represents Samsung Electronics' 128,000 employees."
Samsung Electronics formed its first union in 2018. It now operates under a multi-union system with five unions active. In the absence of a majority union with representativeness, wage bargaining and other talks had been conducted separately. For the 2026 wage and collective agreement (wage and collective bargaining), among the five unions, the larger ones — ▲the cross-enterprise union ▲the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union (Jeonsamno) ▲the Samsung Electronics Donghaeng Union — formed a joint bargaining group and proceeded together. The joint bargaining group negotiated for about three months, but after failing to bridge differences with management, it declared a breakdown in talks in Feb.
The three unions then formed a joint struggle headquarters and, in a strike-authorization vote held in Mar., won majority support and announced a "May general strike." They also plan to hold a rally on the 23rd. In response, management sought to defuse tensions by proposing that if the DS (semiconductor) institutional sector achieves No. 1 in the domestic industry, it would provide compensation exceeding the cap on the over-profit incentive (OPI) through special rewards. However, the joint struggle headquarters is sticking to the permanent abolition of the cap through a system change.
Chairperson Choi said that day, "Our demands are to provide a performance bonus equal to 15% of operating profit and to institutionalize (not as a one-off) the removal of the cap," adding, "All members will join the strike and do their utmost until these demands are met."
The Labor Standards Act defines an employee representative as "a labor union organized by a majority of employees" or "a person representing a majority of employees." An employee representative can directly conclude written agreements with the employer on key working conditions such as flexible and selective working hours. They also hold various legal authorities, including being the appointing body for employee representatives on the labor-management council.
The cross-enterprise union said it would exercise employee-representative authority to pursue going forward ▲a complete block on disadvantageous changes to work rules ▲formation of a labor-management council centered on union members ▲substantive improvement in treatment through majority bargaining power. Chairperson Choi said, "We will work to introduce a union shop system so that every employee who joins Samsung Electronics can naturally be protected under the union's umbrella."
The joint struggle headquarters has announced a strike from May 21 to June 7. Chairperson Choi said, "If we strike for 18 days, considering equipment backup, the company would face at least 20 trillion won to 30 trillion won in losses."
Samsung Electronics judged such a strike to be illegal and filed for an "injunction to prohibit unlawful industrial action" with the Suwon District Court the previous day. Chairperson Choi said in response, "The company is taking issue with Article 38, Paragraph 2 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act concerning facility maintenance and disposal of materials and supplies, but we confirmed in previous collective bargaining that manufacturing and technical personnel are not designated as agreement workers," adding, "Based on a review by a law firm, we plan to proceed with a lawful strike."
The cross-enterprise union also said it had confirmed that a union member was involved in the so-called "blacklist" leak case that recently surfaced. Chairperson Choi said, "As the DS institutional sector surpassed 80% membership, there were signs of overheating in each department," adding, "We also confirmed that some members were checking whether people in their own departments had joined. This is clearly wrong, and since the company has asked the police to investigate, we conveyed our hope that the matter will be wrapped up properly."