[Anchor]
The union at Samsung Electronics begins voting today on whether to ratify a tentative agreement.
Although observers expect the pact to pass, internal union divisions persist, so the outcome is drawing close attention.
We connect now to a reporter near Samsung’s headquarters. Hanbyul Jang, over to you.
[Reporter]
I’m reporting from near Samsung’s Seocho office.
After labor and management reached a tentative wage agreement and a planned companywide strike was postponed, employees have continued working as usual.
The key question now is how union members will vote on the tentative deal.
The agreement includes a 6.2% wage increase, a new special performance bonus for the Device Solutions (DS) semiconductor division, and a new housing loan program offering up to 500 million KRW (approximately $375,000).
Union members will vote on the tentative agreement from 2 p.m. today (22nd) through 10 a.m. next Wednesday (27th).
If a majority of union members with voting rights participate and a majority of those votes are in favor, the tentative agreement will be ratified and take effect. If the vote fails, labor and management will have to resume negotiations.
Because most union members belong to the DS division, analysts say ratification is likely, but internal tensions remain.
Under the tentative deal, employees in the memory division could receive performance payouts totaling up to 600 million KRW (approximately $450,000), while non-memory units projected to run at a loss would likely receive special management bonuses in the 100 million KRW range (approximately $75,000).
By contrast, employees in non-semiconductor areas such as DX say their demands were effectively sidelined during negotiations.
Donghaeng Union, which earlier said it would leave the joint bargaining group, has clashed with the cross-company union that led the talks over whether Donghaeng members have voting rights in this ballot.
The cross-company union says Donghaeng members do not have voting rights. Donghaeng calls that a unilateral claim and argues it is intended to lower the chance the agreement will be rejected.
Because voting is being conducted separately by each union, Donghaeng says it will hold its own vote.
Beyond labor-management tensions, these intra-union disputes have left many employees feeling exhausted.
We will be watching closely to see how today’s vote turns out.
This is Hanbyul Jang for Yonhap News TV, reporting from near Samsung’s Seocho office.
[Live connection: Ham Jeong-tae]
[Video editing: Song A-hae]
Yonhap News TV news tips and inquiries: KakaoTalk/Line jebo23
Hanbyul Jang (good_star@yna.co.kr)
Most Commented