Samsung Electronics has decided to integrate labor-management councils that were run separately by business sites into a single companywide body. The Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group supra-enterprise labor union (supra-enterprise union), which lost its status as the companywide majority union after a large exodus of members from the device experience (DX, finished goods) institutional sector, plans to organize participation in the election of employee representatives for the new council. It is seen as an attempt to make up for diminished influence.
On the 6th, a ChosunBiz reporting roundup found that Samsung Electronics decided to form a companywide labor-management council. The company had operated labor-management councils dealing with working conditions at around 10 business sites, and will now combine them into one. The terms of incumbent employee representatives by business site will be maintained, but each separate council will be wound down as those terms end.
Samsung Electronics said in an employee notice the day before, "We have operated labor-management councils by business site, but we will establish and operate a companywide labor-management council reflecting the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) recommendations," adding, "By addressing labor-management agenda items in a companywide body, we will more broadly gather the voices of all employees."
Representatives by business site are expected to participate in the companywide labor-management council as employee representatives. The supra-enterprise union previously formed representatives by business site—Pyeongtaek, Giheung, Hwaseong, DSR, Cheonan, and Onyang—under the DS Policy Committee, and plans to leverage this organization to participate in the election of employee representatives for the companywide council. The idea is to use organizational strength in the device solutions (DS, semiconductors) institutional sector as a springboard to get its members elected as employee representatives. Supra-enterprise union Chairperson Choi Seung-ho also put his name forward as the Pyeongtaek business site representative.
However, even if the supra-enterprise union secures a majority of employee representative seats, it does not restore the influence the former majority union wielded when it drove the company to the brink of a general strike. That is because, although the labor-management council is the official channel for discussing personnel, compensation, benefits, and workforce operations, it cannot conclude the core of labor relations—wage and collective bargaining agreements.
An industry official said, "Since Samsung Electronics is conducting wage and collective bargaining with the representative negotiating union rather than the labor-management council, even if the supra-enterprise union secures many council seats, the practical effect will be limited."
◇ Supra-enterprise union says "to take control of the labor-management council"… to enter the vote fronted by DS organization
After the companywide labor-management council was finalized, the supra-enterprise union told members it "will focus on securing the status of employee representative by taking control of the labor-management council before achieving a majority labor union." Concluding that regaining a companywide majority in a short time is difficult, the plan is to seize the initiative first in the labor-management council, which is formed by employee voting.
Under the Act on the Promotion of Workers' Participation and Cooperation, the labor-management council consists of the same number of employee representatives and employer representatives, each numbering no fewer than three and no more than 10. If there is no companywide majority union, employee representatives are elected by a direct, secret, and anonymous vote in which a majority of employees participate. If necessary due to business site characteristics, an indirect election is also possible in which each department first selects electors, who then elect the employee representatives.
If there is a majority union, the union's representative and persons commissioned by the union serve as employee representatives. Having lost its companywide majority status, the supra-enterprise union lost the authority to directly appoint employee representatives.
◇ Personnel and profit-sharing talks are possible, but there is no authority for wage bargaining
The labor-management council can discuss with the company matters such as productivity improvement and profit-sharing, improvements to personnel and labor-management systems, general principles of workforce allocation and employment adjustment, wage payment methods and structures, safety and health, and employee welfare. The company must report or explain at regular meetings its management plans and results, quarterly production plans, workforce plans, and economic and fiscal conditions.
However, the labor-management council cannot substitute for a labor union. This is because the Act stipulates that a labor union's collective bargaining and other activities are not affected by the labor-management council system.
In its no-union era, Samsung Electronics had the labor-management council's employee representatives negotiate the rate of pay raises for all employees. Even after a union was formed in 2024, that practice continued, and the company first announced the raise rate agreed with the labor-management council, sparking controversy. Currently, as wage talks proceed with the representative negotiating union, the role of the labor-management council has been reduced compared with the past. The supra-enterprise union also told members that "even if a companywide labor-management council is formed, the council cannot participate in bargaining," explaining that the wage agreement already concluded for 2026 cannot be overturned.
◇ Pushing for DS business site safety and health representatives as well… separate from companywide authority
Separately from the companywide labor-management council vote, the supra-enterprise union is discussing with the company securing the status of employee representative under the Occupational Safety and Health Act at DS business sites such as Pyeongtaek, Giheung, and Hwaseong. While it is not a majority across all of Samsung Electronics, the union claims that at individual semiconductor business sites where members are concentrated, more than half of employees have joined the supra-enterprise union.
If majority status is confirmed, the supra-enterprise union can lead the formation of the employee-side commissioners of the business site Occupational Safety and Health Committee. It will also take part in deliberating and resolving issues such as harmful and hazardous factors at semiconductor manufacturing facilities, working environments, industrial accident prevention plans, and measures to prevent recurrence of accidents. However, authority is limited to the safety and health issues of the relevant business site. This differs from holding companywide employee representative status as a majority union and participating in decisions on changes to work rules, working-hours systems, wages and bonuses, and employment adjustments.
At one point, the supra-enterprise union surpassed 76,000 members and in April became the first majority union since Samsung Electronics was founded. The May wage agreement contained a provision to pay a special management performance bonus funded by 10.5% of business performance in the DS institutional sector, while giving DX institutional sector employees company stock worth 6 million won per person. As DX employees protested the disparity in compensation and left, membership quickly declined, and the union lost its status about a month and a half after declaring a majority. As of the 4th, the number of supra-enterprise union members had shrunk to 53,825.
By contrast, the Samsung Electronics Labor Union Together, centered on DX employees, rose to 30,130 the same day. The supra-enterprise union plans to separate the bargaining units of DS and DX next year, and if the separation request is not accepted, to become the sole representative negotiating union through the process of unifying the bargaining channel.