Infighting! Samsung's non-chip division employees file for a court injunction over "unfair bonus distribution": Refusing to be treated as second-class citizens

Samsung Electronics' smallest union, primarily comprising the DX (Device eXperience) division, has officially filed an injunction with a South Korean court, requesting a suspension of the vote on the preliminary wage agreement. The reason: chip division employees will receive an average bonus of up to 513 million won, while DX division employees will only receive 6 million won — a gap of over 85 times. (Background: Financial Times: China "bans Nvidia RTX 5090D V2" gaming chip imports, Huang Renxun stabbed in the back after his visit to China ended) (Background supplement: Goldman Sachs CEO Solomon: AI "job apocalypse" is exaggerated panic) According to reports, Samsung's smallest union, primarily comprising DX division employees, filed an injunction with a South Korean court on Tuesday, requesting suspension of the final vote that closes this Wednesday (May 27). The wage battle within Samsung Electronics has rapidly escalated on the eve of the agreement's voting deadline. According to Bloomberg, the union's core demand is singular: this agreement is too skewed toward chip employees and too unfair to the consumer electronics division. Based on calculations using the proposed terms and Samsung's projected 2026 operating profit, semiconductor division employees can receive an average bonus of approximately 513 million won (about 340,000 USD) this year; while DX division employees over the same period will only receive 6 million won — a gap exceeding 85 times. It is understood that Samsung Electronics has three unions in total. The largest union, led primarily by the semiconductor division, dominated months of wage negotiations and reached a preliminary agreement on May 20, successfully averting a strike that could have involved 48,000 employees. The agreement includes an average 6.2% wage adjustment, a housing loan program of up to 500 million won, and the distribution of approximately 40 trillion won (about 26.6 billion USD) in annual bonuses to 78,000 semiconductor division employees. However, the smallest union had already withdrawn from the joint negotiation committee during negotiations, citing that the demands of DX division employees were not adequately addressed. Subsequently, the largest union claimed that since the smallest union had withdrawn from the committee, its members were not eligible to vote, further intensifying the conflict between the two sides. The smallest union's position is clear: this is not an agreement representing all employees, but rather one tailor-made for the chip division. Filing an injunction with the court is the only means to prevent the agreement from passing before the voting results are finalized. Before the preliminary agreement was signed, the DX union had approximately 3,000 members; but as of Tuesday morning, the number had climbed to nearly 13,000 — a net increase of over ten thousand in a single day. Bloomberg reports that some union members actively called on colleagues to join, with the clear purpose of ensuring this group would be eligible in the final vote, thereby increasing the possibility of vetoing the agreement. However, whether the surge in members can translate into actual voting rights still depends on whether the court accepts the injunction application, and whether the largest union recognizes the voting eligibility of these new members. As of Monday evening, 87% of eligible members had completed voting, and the agreement only requires a simple majority to pass. Analysts generally expect the agreement to ultimately be approved.