As discontent persists within Samsung Electronics over the performance bonus gap between the DS institutional sector, which handles semiconductors, and the DX institutional sector, which is in charge of finished goods, a song reflecting the relative sense of deprivation among DX institutional sector employees has been posted on YouTube and is spreading inside the company.
On the 1st, a roughly 4-minute-30-second video titled "We Deserve It" (we also deserve it) was released on YouTube. The video features a series of recent news clips covering the controversy over Samsung Electronics' performance bonuses. The lyrics include the line, "It's the first time that saying I work for this company has caught in my throat like this."
It also expressed the dissatisfaction of DX institutional sector employees that, despite having been responsible for Samsung Electronics' major finished goods, they were not sufficiently recognized in the compensation process, through lyrics that say, "We made them—TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and Galaxy."
After it was released, the video spread quickly among DX institutional sector executives and employees. The view count surpassed 30,000 in five days. Considering that Samsung Electronics' DX institutional sector has about 52,000 executives and employees, it means the views exceeded the level of half.
Samsung Electronics averted a strike crisis through a tentative wage and collective agreement in May, but the controversy over the fairness of performance bonuses between the DS institutional sector and the DX institutional sector has yet to subside.
Under the labor-management agreement, DS institutional sector employees, centered on the memory business unit, are set to receive large-scale compensation in company stock. In contrast, a relatively small level of performance bonuses was set for the DX institutional sector, fueling internal discontent.
Donghaeng, a Samsung Electronics labor union centered on the DX institutional sector, has raised the issue of the compensation gap through actions such as an injunction request to suspend the effectiveness of the wage agreement and solo protests. However, the court rejected the union's injunction request last month.
Management also moved to calm the internal mood. Roh Tae-Moon, Samsung Electronics' CEO and head of the DX institutional sector, told members last month, "We take seriously the sense of alienation and deprivation you may have felt from the wage negotiations."
Afterward, Roh held meetings with DX institutional sector members in an effort to manage the situation, but employees' complaints over performance bonuses appear to be continuing.
Comments under the video also saw sympathetic posts from users presumed to be DX institutional sector employees. Reactions included, "It might look funny from the outside, but we came this far with pride that we are the best in the world even while doing 100 hours of night overtime a month, and that pride has collapsed," and, "More than the money, the greatest blow is the emptiness and betrayal of not being recognized and being disregarded for our company loyalty and efforts all this time."