Samsung Union Escalates Campaign Over Pay Gap Between Consumer and Chip Divisions

A Samsung Electronics union representing workers in the company's consumer device business is escalating a campaign over a widening compensation gap with its semiconductor division.

The Donghaeng union, whose members are concentrated in Samsung's Device eXperience division, plans to begin holding rallies of about 200 people near Lee's home in Yongsan on Sept. 18. It will also stage relay-style one-person protests, according to industry sources on Sunday.

The campaign expands on a demonstration previously held near Samsung's Suwon campus and its Seocho offices. The union says management is unfairly shifting blame for DX's weak performance onto employees, while leaving them with significantly lower compensation than workers in the semiconductor-focused Device Solutions division.

DX oversees Samsung’s smartphones, televisions and home appliances, while DS houses its chip business. Donghaeng is demanding 1,000 Samsung Electronics shares per DX employee, a companywide performance-based compensation pool and the same base-pay increase across divisions.

The union has also placed a 15-second video on a Times Square, New York, billboard carrying the messages, “Great products begin with people” and “We are still here.”

The dispute has intensified as the performance gap between Samsung’s DS and DX divisions has widened. DX posted 48 trillion won ($35.7 billion) in second-quarter revenue and an operating loss of 800 billion won, marking its first quarterly loss since the division was established.

Its Mobile eXperience and Networks businesses also reported a combined operating loss of 700 billion won, as higher memory and component prices increased costs for finished products.

Samsung Electronics’ 2026 wage talks concluded in May with a tentative agreement approved by 73.7 percent of eligible voters on May 27. Donghaeng, which had joined the joint bargaining group with two other Samsung unions, withdrew before the vote, saying the deal failed to reflect the concerns of employees of the DX division.

Samsung Electronics said there was no basis for reopening negotiations because the year’s wage agreement was concluded through government mediation. The company maintains that compensation should be determined according to each division’s performance.