SEOUL, May 27 (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics’ unionised workers in South Korea voted to approve a tentative wage deal, the union said on Wednesday, averting a strike that threatened to rattle global chip supplies and damage the South Korean economy.
Nearly 74% of the 62,616 workers who cast ballots backed the deal, the union said.
The approval came after a bitter five-month dispute over performance bonuses tied to the company’s booming AI chip business that has created a deep division among workers at the tech conglomerate.
Labour and management had initially reached a tentative agreement last Wednesday following last-minute mediation by South Korea’s Labour Minister, just hours before unionised workers were scheduled to walk off the job.
But a minority union representing the giant’s consumer electronics workers said on Tuesday it has asked a South Korean court to block a vote on a pay deal that primarily benefits their colleagues in the company’s chip divisions.
Under the terms of the ratified agreement, Samsung will implement a new 10-year special performance bonus system for its semiconductor division, alongside an average 6.2% wage hike.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Heejin Kim Editing by Ed Davies)
