[Edaily Reporter Kim Ju-hwan] Employees in Samsung Electronics’ Device Experience (DX) division, which handles finished products, have launched a collective action in protest of the extreme disparity in performance-based bonuses compared to the Device Solutions (DS) division, which handles semiconductors.

As the commute to the headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, was filled with employees wearing “black clothing,” the labor-management agreement reached last month appears to be escalating into a labor-labor conflict.

According to industry sources on the 18th, employees of Samsung Electronics’ DX Division launched a “wear black” campaign on their way to work at the Suwon headquarters in Gyeonggi Province that day. General office workers wore black clothing, while on-site workers wore black masks as they began their shifts. Some employees also held a silent protest in front of the Suwon Mobile Research Center during their lunch break.

This collective action is being led by the third labor union, “Samsung Electronics Labor Union Donghaeng” (hereinafter “Donghaeng Union”), which is primarily composed of DX Division union members. Starting at the Gangdong facility in Seoul on the 10th, voluntary participation in the campaign has been spreading to facilities nationwide, including Gumi on the 16th and Suwon on the 18th.

The Donghaeng Union plans to continue the “black clothing” protest on their way to work at the Gwangju facility on the 23rd and the Umyeon facility on the 24th. It is encouraging members to change their internal profile nicknames to “Same Company, Same Rights” and to refuse to sign annual salary contracts.

The main reason DX division employees are taking such a strong stance is the performance bonus disparity agreed upon by labor and management last May. At that time, management agreed to establish a special management performance bonus funded by 10.5% of the semiconductor division’s business profits. It was a dramatic settlement reached through government mediation ahead of a general strike led by the Samsung Electronics Branch of the Samsung Group Inter-Company Labor Union (hereinafter referred to as the Inter-Company Union).

However, once the details of the agreement were revealed, the internal mood took a sharp turn for the worse. Based on securities firms’ projections of 300 trillion won in operating profit for Samsung Electronics this year, it was estimated that an employee in the DS Division’s Memory Business Unit earning an annual salary of 100 million won (pre-tax) could receive up to 600 million won per person, combining the special management performance bonus in the form of company stock and the excess profit incentive (OPI).

In contrast, employees in the DX division, where concerns about poor performance persist, would receive only company stock worth 6 million won per person. Thus, a performance bonus disparity of up to 100 times within the same company was formalized.

In the wake of backlash over the performance bonus disparity, the landscape of Samsung Electronics’ labor unions has been completely overturned in just one month. The Donghaeng Union, which had only about 2,000 members prior to the settlement, saw its membership surge more than tenfold to 26,117 as of 1:00 p.m. that day. This figure represents 50.5% of the DX Division’s total workforce of 51,717 employees, surpassing the majority threshold. The Donghaeng Union has set reaching 40,000 members as its next goal.

In contrast, the Inter-Company Union—the largest union that had led the wage negotiations—took a direct hit. Its membership, which once exceeded 76,000, has recently dropped to around 56,450, causing it to lose its status as the majority union. This is the result of a mass exodus triggered by complaints—not only within the DX division but also among employees in the loss-making System LSI and Foundry business units of the DS division—that the Memory Business Unit was monopolizing performance bonuses.

As the situation escalates, labor-labor conflict is spiraling into legal battles and an all-out war. The Donghaeng Union is considering filing a civil lawsuit and a petition to invalidate the vote regarding the tentative wage agreement reached last month by the Joint Bargaining Committee—which includes the Inter-Company Union—and management.

In addition, the Donghaeng Union plans to begin with a meeting with the head of the DX Division’s People Team on the 23rd and will also seek a meeting with CEO Noh Tae-moon, who also heads the DX Division.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Company Union has abruptly launched a confidence vote on Chairman Choi Seung-ho. The vote will be conducted electronically from the 24th to the 30th. If re-elected, Chairman Choi plans to prioritize independent negotiations in the 2027 bargaining round by separating the DS Division as a distinct bargaining unit, excluding the DX Division.