[Edaily Reporter Kim So-yeon] The Samsung branch of the Samsung Group Inter-Company Labor Union, Samsung Electronics’ largest labor union, has lost its status as the majority union. This is the result of significant disparities in performance-based bonuses between business divisions, leading to a wave of resignations from the union not only among employees in the Consumer Electronics (DX) division but also among employees in the non-memory business unit within the Semiconductor (DS) division.

According to industry sources on the 4th, the total number of members in the Inter-Company Labor Union stood at 58,270 as of 3 p.m. that day. Based on the business report released at the end of last year, Samsung Electronics has a total workforce of 128,881 employees, meaning the union must have at least 64,440 members to maintain majority status.

During the wage negotiations, the number of members in the Inter-Company Union temporarily exceeded 76,000, but following the settlement of the negotiations on the 20th of last month, members began leaving the union at a rapid pace. Over 10,000 members withdrew within a week.

In a vote on the Samsung Electronics 2026 wage negotiation proposal held on the 27th of last month, 80.6% (44,606 members) of the Inter-Company Union voted in favor, while 10,727 members (19.4%) voted against it. It appears that some of the employees who opposed the proposal have since resigned from the union.

The Inter-Company Union had secured the status of a majority union and legal worker representative from the Ministry of Employment and Labor last April. It has lost its majority union status in about a month and a half.

Consequently, it is expected to be difficult for the union to maintain overwhelming leadership in future collective wage negotiations, particularly as it works to unify the bargaining channel with the second and third-largest unions—the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union (Jeonsamno) and the Samsung Electronics Labor Union Donghaeng (Donghaeng Union). Members who have left the Inter-Company Union are moving to the second and third-largest unions.

The membership of the NSEU increased from approximately 16,000 on the 20th of last month to 20,968 as of 9 a.m. today. The Donghaeng Union, which had only around 2,600 members immediately after the agreement was reached, surged to 21,390 members today.

This is due to backlash from employees in the DX division and non-memory employees within the DS division, stemming from significant disparities in performance bonuses within the same company. According to the tentative agreement, assuming Samsung Electronics’ operating profit this year is 300 trillion won, employees in the DS division’s memory business unit will receive a total of 600 million won, including special management performance bonuses. In contrast, DX division employees will only receive company stock worth approximately 6 million won per person.

Moving forward, the Inter-Company Union plans to pursue “two-track negotiations” to separate the executive bodies of the DS and DX divisions, and is scheduled to hold a vote on the chairman’s reappointment on the 17th.