A smaller Samsung Electronics union representing roughly 13,000 workers in the company’s smartphones, televisions and home appliances divisions has filed an injunction at South Korea’s Suwon District Court to halt an ongoing companywide vote on a bonus deal that would deliver a windfall to memory chip workers and almost nothing to everyone else.
The injunction was filed on Tuesday by the Donghaeng union, the third-largest union inside Samsung and the one whose members sit furthest from the AI memory boom.
Around 57,000 Samsung workers began voting on Friday on a tentative pay agreement that would, if approved, confirm an average bonus of about 600 million won per person for the memory chip division, while staff in the Device Experience (DX) division, which makes the phones and TVs, receive company shares worth about 6 million won. The disparity is roughly 100 to one.
The Donghaeng union’s objection is procedural as much as financial. According to the Seoul Economic Daily, the union argues it was excluded from the ballot by the larger Cho-Kiup union, which represents the memory workers, because the majority union feared a DX bloc vote would sink the deal.
The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!The non-chip union said it filed the court action only after being told it had no standing to participate.
