Samsung Electronics to communicate with DX Division employees next month; likely to address controversy over exclusion from performance bonuses

[Financial News] Samsung Electronics will communicate directly with employees of the DX (Device eXperience) Division, which oversees finished products such as home appliances, TVs and smartphones, next month.
According to industry sources on the 27th, Samsung Electronics plans to hold a town hall meeting for all DX Division employees in October, chaired by Roh Tae-moon, the company's CEO and head of the DX Division.
Tensions also continued within the Samsung Electronics Branch of the Samsung Group United Labor Union (SGUU), or the cross-company labor union, over disparities in performance bonuses compared with the DS Division. In response, the SGUU was reorganized around the DS Division, leaving out the DX Division.
The Donghaeng Union, formed mainly by employees of the DX Division, has raised concerns about the compensation gap with the DS Division. It is calling for a company-wide common fund to be established so that the semiconductor and finished-goods businesses can mutually offset imbalances caused by their respective business cycles over the long term.
Following rallies at the Suwon workplace and the Seocho office, the Donghaeng Union has recently begun an indefinite sit-in protest in front of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong's home in Seoul's Yongsan District.
However, Samsung Electronics is maintaining the principle of keeping the funding sources for the DS and DX Divisions separate.
Meanwhile, the DS Division of Samsung Electronics is expected to inform union members this week of the specific calculation method and payment criteria for the "special management performance bonus," which was newly established through a labor-management agreement.
The SGUU recently notified its members, "The notice on the DS special performance bonus will be provided after Chuseok, in the last week of September."
The detailed calculation method for the new system, which will apply for the next 10 years, is set to be disclosed. If operating profit remains as strong as it has been, compensation in the hundreds of millions of won per person is expected.
Labor and management agreed in May to pay the special management performance bonus using 10.5% of the DS Division's operating profit, a measure of its business performance, as the funding source.

[email protected] Kim Hak-jae Reporter