Samsung wage agreement dispute reaches court over vote suspension request

PNN News Desk. Dhaka

A major labor dispute has emerged at South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics over a new wage agreement. A labor union representing employees in the smartphone, TV, and home appliance divisions has approached the court seeking suspension of the approval vote.

The union alleges that the recently government-coordinated wage agreement mainly benefits employees in the company’s memory chip division, which has seen massive profit growth due to rising demand for artificial intelligence.

The union claims that they were not given proper participation in the voting process, raising questions about its legality, and therefore they have filed a request to suspend the vote.

The agreement last week helped avoid an 18-day strike involving around 48,000 employees. The deal includes large bonuses for memory chip division workers, in some cases reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.

However, employees in smartphones and home appliances say they are receiving comparatively fewer benefits and that profit distribution from the AI sector is unfair.

Voting on approval has already begun and is scheduled to end on Wednesday. Labor representatives say that if the agreement is not approved by majority vote, negotiations should restart.

Another Samsung labor union said that although many employees support the agreement, dissatisfaction remains among workers.

Despite tensions, Samsung shares rose by about 2.2 percent on Tuesday.