A man walks past a Samsung store in Seoul on May 28, 2026. (Photo by Pedro Pardo / AFP)
Seoul: A labour union representing several thousand Samsung Electronics employees asked a court on Tuesday to nullify a bonus agreement between the South Korean tech giant and its largest union.
Samsung has emerged as a key player in the fast-evolving artificial intelligence industry thanks to its highly advanced memory chips.
The company has recently concluded high-stakes negotiations with its largest union over a bonus wage deal, averting a major strike that had raised concerns about the potential impact on the national economy.
Under the agreement, around 78,000 employees of the chip division -- out of the company's 125,000 domestic workforce -- are eligible to receive a bonus of roughly $330,000 this year, based on estimates of annual operating profit.
But the deal has left many in non-chip divisions disgruntled, as they are expected to receive significantly lower benefits, worth around $4,000.
The minority union with around 13,000 members had initially filed an injunction seeking to halt a vote among employees to approve the deal, which concluded last week.
Following its approval, "we have amended an injunction application, requesting the suspension of the effectiveness of the tentative agreement," a lawyer representing the minority union said in a message to AFP.
Frenzied demand for memory chips powering AI data centres has turbocharged Samsung's earnings.
The firm said in April that first-quarter operating profit surged roughly 750 percent year-on-year, while its market value topped $1 trillion for the first time this month.
Under the union's 10-year deal -- tied to ambitious performance targets -- annual bonuses for employees in the semiconductor division would amount to 10.5 percent of their segment's operating profit.
The bonuses will be paid in shares alongside an additional 1.5 percent in cash.
The Samsung agreement has fuelled labour demands across South Korea, with workers in sectors ranging from biotech and autos to shipbuilding asking for a larger share of corporate profits through bonuses.
