South Korean Court Rejects Non-Chip Union Ban Request Against Samsung, Wage Agreement Vote Continues

According to a report by Yonhap News Agency, the Suwon local court in South Korea rejected the temporary injunction request filed by Samsung Electronics' third-largest labor union, "The Solidarity," on May 26th. The union had previously demanded a halt to the ongoing temporary wage agreement process for 2026.

Following the court's rejection of the request, the relevant agreement process will continue to move forward. This process is based on the preliminary wage agreement for 2026 that had been reached by both labor and management, with a deadline of 10 AM on May 27th.

The Solidarity had previously argued that Samsung's largest labor union, "Samsung Group Super Enterprise Labor Union Samsung Branch," had excluded it from the negotiation process, violating the participation rights of its members.

The core of the dispute lies in the significant pay gap between different business divisions of Samsung Electronics: employees of the semiconductor (DS) division may receive performance bonuses ranging from 210 million to 600 million Korean won, while those in the smart devices, home appliances, and television business (DX) division are most likely to receive only about 6 million Korean won in company stocks.