SEOUL, September 05 (AJP) -SEOUL, Sept. 5 (AJP) -- “Great products begin with people,” read a message splashed across a Times Square billboard in New York on Saturday, as a Samsung Electronics non-chip labor union took its protest over widening compensation disparities and treatment of its consumer-electronics workforce to a global stage.
Donghaeng Union, which mainly represents employees in Samsung Electronics’ Device eXperience (DX) division, ran a 15-second video on a Times Square electronic billboard from midnight local time, with the clip appearing at 35 minutes past every hour.
Donghaeng Union has argued that DX employees were sidelined in the company’s latest wage negotiations and that differences in rewards between the two divisions have become too large.
Samsung’s semiconductor business has enjoyed a powerful earnings rebound on booming artificial intelligence demand, particularly for high-bandwidth memory and other advanced chips, while profitability in parts of the DX business has remained under pressure.
The union argues that weaker earnings at DX should not be blamed primarily on employees.
At a rally on Aug. 21, it said deteriorating profitability in the division stemmed from management failures and called for greater communication with senior executives.
The Times Square advertisement also raised concerns about Samsung’s artificial intelligence transformation, or AX, program. The union said the company has been dividing work into individual functions, measuring efficiency and calculating required staffing levels under the AX initiative.
“If workforce efficiency under the banner of AX means reducing people, it must stop,” the union said.
The concern is part of the union’s broader argument that employees should not bear the cost of restructuring and weaker profitability while compensation increasingly diverges between Samsung’s major business divisions.
Donghaeng Union also called for an investigation into whether personal information involving its members had been leaked.
The request follows controversy involving the Samsung Electronics branch of the Samsung Group Super-Enterprise Union, which was accused of compiling a list containing information on the union membership status of roughly 100,000 employees.
Donghaeng Union asked Samsung to determine whether information involving its own members was included.
The union plans to intensify its campaign later this month. Beginning Sept. 18, members plan to hold rallies and one-person demonstrations near the residence of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong in Seoul’s Yongsan district.
AJP Takeaways
- A Samsung Electronics union representing mainly DX employees took its protest over widening compensation disparities to New York’s Times Square.
- The union says DX workers have been sidelined in recent wage talks and face an excessive pay gap with employees in the more profitable semiconductor-focused DS division.
- Further protests are planned near Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s Seoul residence from Sept. 18.
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