The third-largest union, made up mainly of non-semiconductor employees at Samsung Electronics, has launched legal action to halt the process for a vote on a tentative 2026 wage agreement.
On the 25th, the Samsung Electronics Labor Union Donghaeng (hereafter Donghaeng union) said it plans to file for an injunction to suspend the vote process with the Suwon District Court on the morning of the 26th.
Samsung Electronics is currently holding a member vote on the tentative 2026 wage agreement reached by labor and management. However, conflict among unions is spreading over who is eligible to vote.
The Donghaeng union is the third-largest union at Samsung Electronics, composed mainly of employees in the Device eXperience (DX) institutional sector, which handles smartphones, appliances, and TVs. The membership, previously about 2,600, is now said to have grown to around 13,000.
Earlier, the Donghaeng union had formed a joint struggle headquarters with the Samsung Group supra-enterprise labor union Samsung Electronics Branch (supra-enterprise union) and the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union (Jeonsamno) to negotiate with management, but it withdrew from the joint body after judging that the views of DX institutional sector members were not being sufficiently reflected.
Since then, the two sides have split over who is qualified to vote. The supra-enterprise union says the Donghaeng union has no authority to vote on the tentative agreement because it left the joint body. The Donghaeng union, on the other hand, is pushing back, saying it is an attempt to restrict voting rights as organizing among DX institutional sector employees expands.
The Donghaeng union said, "The actions of the supra-enterprise union, which had promised to gather legitimate opinions, turned out to be nothing but a trick," and added, "As DX members have rallied, they are trying to strip voting rights to block the expression of opinions."
The vote on the tentative agreement runs until 10 a.m. on the 27th. In particular, among employees in non-memory business units, including the DX institutional sector, there is ongoing pushback against the tentative agreement.
Under the tentative agreement, while it is suggested that employees in the DS (Device Solutions·semiconductors) institutional sector could receive performance bonuses of about 210 million won to 600 million won before taxes based on an annual salary of 100 million won, there are concerns that employees in the DX institutional sector may only receive company stock worth about 6 million won.