Samsung Electronics' DX union to rally over home appliance losses, pay gap

The Samsung Electronics Donghang union, which represents employees in the company's device experience division, plans to hold a rally outside the Seocho headquarters in Seoul on Aug. 21.

The union says management has failed to adequately explain a deterioration in the home appliance business's profitability or address growing internal frustration over compensation gaps between divisions.

The rally is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. The Donghang union currently has 30,393 members from the DX division — more than half of the division's total workforce of 49,080.

"Rival home appliance makers are posting profits, yet Samsung Electronics' home appliance business is running at a loss despite comparable sales," a union official said. "There are persistent concerns and reports that profitability worsens as sales grow in some businesses, yet management has not once offered employees a proper explanation or engaged in responsible communication."

Samsung Electronics' home appliance and TV division posted sales of 28.8 trillion won ($20.4 billion) in the first half of this year, with operating profit of about 190 billion won. By contrast, LG Electronics' home appliance and TV division recorded sales of 24.3 trillion won and operating profit of 1.85 trillion won over the same period — a stark difference in profitability.

"Amid this business situation and the absence of communication, we have serious concerns about whether current management can truly be responsible for the employment and future of some 52,000 employees," the union official said. "We are holding the rally at the Seocho headquarters to demand that management offer accountable explanations, devise countermeasures, and communicate directly with employees."

The union added that "this year's flawed wage negotiations must be corrected." Earlier, Samsung Electronics and the union agreed to grant DX division employees company shares worth about 6 million won per person. With roughly 99 percent of this year's operating profit coming from the semiconductor division, some observers note that the gap between memory chip division bonuses — estimated at around 600 million won per person — and DX division bonuses could be as wide as 100-fold.

In July, the Donghang union held a large rally outside Samsung Electronics' Suwon campus, demanding that the company scrap the 2026 wage agreement entirely and offer compensation equivalent to 1,000 shares of company stock per employee. About 7,000 workers attended, chanting slogans including "same company, same rights."

The union also criticized management, saying it had "caused extreme compensation discrimination between business divisions during this round of negotiations, leaving DX division employees with a deep sense of alienation and relative deprivation."

The discontent intensified after the Samsung Electronics chapter of a cross-company union — which had led this year's wage negotiations — announced it would conduct separate bargaining for the DX division going forward. Many DX division employees subsequently left that union and joined the Donghang union.

However, some observers have questioned whether the union's demands are realistic, noting that granting 1,000 shares per employee would cost roughly 11 trillion won, and that the per-person payout of about 6 million won in shares was already distributed last month.