"Make it transparent and scrap the cap."
Starting at 1 p.m. on the 23rd, Samsung Electronics employees holding such placards began gathering at the Pyeongtaek Campus, the world's largest semiconductor production base. About 1 kilometer of the eight-lane road at 1742 Godeok-dong, Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, quickly filled with people wearing vests of the Samsung Group super-firm labor union Samsung Electronics chapter (hereafter the super-firm union). The super-firm union, which has 76,100 members, recently said it received official confirmation from the Gyeonggi Regional Employment and Labor Office that it had achieved "majority union" status, which secures the position of employee representative.
The joint struggle headquarters formed by three unions within Samsung Electronics held a "rally to vow to fight" at the Pyeongtaek Campus that day. When the main rally began at 2 p.m., the crowd numbered about 40,000 (police and union estimates). They took annual leave or filed for dispute-related attendance and joined the rally. Given that Samsung Electronics had 128,881 employees as of the end of last year, about 31% attended the rally.
After wage and collective agreement (wage deal) talks for 2026 with management broke down, the super-firm union, the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union, and the Samsung Electronics Companion Union formed a joint struggle headquarters and in March held a strike ballot that won majority support. Accordingly, they plan to launch a general strike for 18 days from May 21 to June 7. The rally that day was widely seen as an attempt to show the union's "display of strength" ahead of the strike.
The Samsung Electronics joint struggle headquarters is calling for a bonus system with no cap, funded by 15% of annual operating profit. Choi Seung-ho, chairperson of the super-firm union, said, "The bonus system is opaque and we cannot know the distribution rate," and added, "The company tried to wrap up talks under the pretext of a one-off reward while turning away from abolishing the bonus cap, making it transparent, and institutionalizing it." Choi also said, "Outside observers say, 'You already get a lot and are asking for more money,'" but added, "We will restore the 'talent first' principle with fair rewards for performance and will not stop fighting until our legitimate demands are met."
The rally proceeded in the order of the declaration of the event, the entrance of union flags, and the union chair's fighting address. Following the moderator's lead, participants shouted "fight" several times. Banners reading "Deficits are the result of management failure" and "We've endured enough; defend the right to live" were hung along the road.
The Samsung Electronics joint struggle headquarters had earlier expected about 39,000 people to attend the rally. With actual attendance higher than that, concerns are growing that a real production disruption could occur if the union goes on strike. More than 80% of the super-firm union's members belong to the DS (semiconductor) division.
A DS division employee, a person surnamed Lee (37), said, "Most of our seniors and juniors filed dispute-related attendance and came to the rally together," and added, "At our workplace in Hwaseong, virtually only those at the director general level are left, so I think semiconductor production could be disrupted." An executive of the super-firm union also said, "Although we don't have an exact count, with 40,000 off the job there would not have been no production disruption."
However, because the rally was held briefly for around two hours, it was reported that it did not lead to actual production disruptions. In the industry, there are concerns that if the rally's higher-than-expected attendance translates into an actual strike, production could be disrupted. A semiconductor industry official said, "If strike participation follows the rally attendance rate, it could lead to real production disruptions."
Meanwhile, before the "rally to vow to fight," a rally by Samsung Electronics shareholders criticizing the union was also held near the Pyeongtaek Campus. Small shareholders at the site stood with a banner reading "Samsung stands with 5 million shareholders in Korea" and placards that read "Samsung shareholder dividends 11 trillion won! Samsung employee dividends 40 trillion won?"
Min Kyung-kwon, head of the Korea Shareholder Action Headquarters, told reporters, "The real owners of that plant on the corporate registry, which holds the equity, are the shareholders," and noted, "Stopping the plant during a semiconductor boom cycle directly harms the real assets of Samsung Electronics and its shareholders."