Samsung Electronics' largest union has ratified a compensation deal that will pay semiconductor workers an average bonus of roughly $340,000, according to Bloomberg. About 74% of the union's members voted in favor of the agreement, which was first reached last week, just 90 minutes before an 18-day general strike was set to begin at the world's largest memory chipmaker. But the deal has deepened internal rifts at the company: some memory division employees stand to receive 600 million won ($400,000) while staff in Samsung's smartphone, TV, and appliance divisions are looking at payouts of just 6 million won ($4,000).
The agreement allocates 10.5% of Samsung's semiconductor division operating profit as stock-based bonuses, with an additional 1.5% in cash, plus a 6.2% average wage increase. The program runs for 10 years, contingent on the division hitting some lofty annual operating profit targets. Based on Bloomberg's projections of Samsung's 2026 operating profit at approximately 330 trillion won, the total bonus pool for the company's 78,000 semiconductor employees could reach roughly 40 trillion won ($26.6 billion).
