Samsung Workers Vote on Massive Pay Deal—Is a Strike Looming?

Samsung Electronics and its union opened member voting on a tentative 2026 wage agreement. By the evening of the first day, turnout had surpassed 66%, signaling rapid mobilization among members.

According to the Samsung Electronics branch of the cross-company union, turnout stood at 66.16% as of 8:25 p.m. on the 22nd. Turnout for the Nationwide Samsung Electronics Union rose to 69.15%.

The vote asks members to approve or reject the \”2026 tentative wage agreement\” that labor and management reached on the 20th. Voting continues through the morning of the 27th. For the agreement to be ratified, a majority of union members must participate and a majority of those voting must approve it.

The tentative agreement would raise average wages by 6.2%, create a special semiconductor performance bonus, and introduce a housing loan program of up to 500 million KRW (approximately $375,000).

In particular, the semiconductor division would fund the special bonus from 10.5% of operating profit. Combined with the existing OPI (excess profit incentive pay), memory division employees could receive up to roughly 600 million KRW (approximately $450,000) in total bonuses.

By contrast, non-memory units such as System LSI and foundry would receive roughly 210 million KRW (approximately $157,500), while the DX division could be limited to company stock worth about 6 million KRW (roughly $4,500), a disparity that has sparked internal backlash.

The Suwon branch of Jeonsamno, a DX-focused union, and the Donghaeng union held a press conference outside Samsung’s Suwon campus, announcing the launch of a campaign to reject the tentative agreement and pledging to coordinate with other divisions to block its ratification.

Tensions between unions followed. The largest union, the cross-company union, said members of Donghaeng who did not participate in the joint bargaining team were not eligible to vote. Donghaeng countered that the cross-company union abruptly changed its stance as the number of members likely to vote \”no\” grew.

However, because the cross-company union and Jeonsamno together represent an overwhelming share of membership, market observers generally view approval as likely. If the agreement is ultimately rejected, labor and management would return to the bargaining table, and Samsung could face renewed strike action.