As Samsung Electronics prepares for its wage and collective bargaining negotiations for next year, a power struggle among internal unions is intensifying. The Samsung Group's largest union, the Samsung Corporate Union, is clashing with mobile and home appliance (DX) sector unions over negotiation methods.
According to industry sources on October 18, the Samsung Corporate Union is demanding feedback from other unions ahead of its policy committee meeting on October 29 to establish demands for the 2027 wage negotiations.
The Corporate Union stated, "Since we have secured a majority of union members, it is certain that we will be confirmed as the representative negotiating union through the process of unifying negotiation channels," and requested that other unions submit their demands to fulfill their obligation of fair representation.
In contrast, the Donghaeng Union and the National Samsung Electronics Union (Jeonsamnodo) immediately pushed back, arguing that it is inappropriate for the Corporate Union to demand submissions based on a specific union status when the process for unifying negotiation channels and selecting a representative union has not yet been completed.
The Donghaeng Union has reportedly made it clear that it will refuse to participate in the Corporate Union's request for input on its demands.
The Jeonsamnodo stated, "It is not appropriate to submit demands based on a specific union when a representative negotiating union has not yet been determined. Once the representative union is finalized through the unification process, we plan to officially submit our demands to that union for consideration."
As performance disparities between the DS and DX sectors widen, the internal conflict among unions is heating up even before the main negotiations begin. The Corporate Union previously declared an independent path focused on the DS sector through a vote, stating its intention to represent the voices of the DS sector separately from the DX sector.
Conversely, unions centered around the DX sector, including the Donghaeng Union, are demanding a framework for joint negotiations, claiming that the voices of DX members were marginalized during the last wage negotiations.
Currently, the membership numbers show that the Corporate Union has approximately 53,000 members, making it the largest. The Donghaeng Union has about 31,000 members, followed by the Jeonsamnodo with around 24,000 members.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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