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Samsung Electronics labor and management reached a tentative wage agreement just 1 hour and 30 minutes before a total strike. If this tentative agreement passes the union’s approval vote, it will avert the largest-scale strike in the company’s history.
Samsung Electronics labor and management signed the tentative 2026 wage agreement at the Gyeonggi Employment and Labor Office in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on the afternoon of the 20th
Regarding the key OPI (excess profit performance bonus), both sides agreed to maintain the existing payment method, including the upper limit. Instead, they will additionally pay a non-capped special management performance bonus for 10 years. From this year until three years later, the bonus will be paid if the semiconductor sector’s operating profit exceeds 200 trillion Korean won, and from 2029 to 2035, it will be paid upon achieving 100 trillion Korean won. The bonus will be paid in stock, not cash, with restrictions on sale. The funding source was agreed to be 10.5% of business performance selected through labor-management agreement.
Regarding the allocation ratio by business division, it was finalized as 4 (entire semiconductor division) to 6 (business divisions). However, since this would result in even loss-making divisions receiving performance bonuses worth hundreds of millions of Korean won, a penalty was agreed upon to pay only 60% of the common payment amount to loss-making divisions, which will take effect from 2027.
Following this agreement, Samsung Electronics’ union joint struggle headquarters announced through a struggle guideline for members that “the total strike from May 21 to June 7 will be postponed until further notice.” They also announced that a vote on the tentative agreement will be held from 2 p.m. on the 22nd to 10 a.m. on the 27th. The tentative agreement will only gain formal status if it passes the vote.
Following this agreement, Samsung Electronics’ union joint struggle headquarters announced through a struggle guideline for members that “the total strike from May 21 to June 7 will be postponed until further notice.” They also announced that a vote on the tentative agreement will be held from 2 p.m. on the 22nd to 10 a.m. on the 27th. The tentative agreement will only gain formal status if it passes the vote.
Following this agreement, Samsung Electronics’ union joint struggle headquarters announced through a struggle guideline for members that “the total strike from May 21 to June 7 will be postponed until further notice.” They also announced that a vote on the tentative agreement will be held from 2 p.m. on the 22nd to 10 a.m. on the 27th. The tentative agreement will only gain formal status if it passes the vote.
Samsung Electronics labor and management failed to narrow differences during the NLRC post-adjustment held from the 18th to 20th, leading to the collapse of the morning mediation session on that day.
Ultimately, Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon directly persuaded labor and management to prevent the strike, leading to the resumption of negotiations at the Gyeonggi Employment and Labor Office in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, that afternoon.
If the agreement is finally approved after the union’s approval vote, the labor-management conflict at Samsung Electronics, which has continued for over five months since last December, will come to an end.
https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2026/05/20/GKUBVOPUVZDQDK5G4S7HEAC3QQ/