According to Korean media reports,Many non-semiconductor employees at Samsung Electronics collectively wore black clothes and black masks to work to protest the 100-fold bonus gap within the company.The trigger of the incident is the special performance bonus agreement for the semiconductor sector that Samsung reached with the union this year. According to the agreement, when Samsung’s annual operating profit exceeds 200 trillion won (2026 to 2028) or 100 trillion won (2029 to 2035), semiconductor employees can receive a special bonus equivalent to 10.5% of the company’s annual operating profit.
Based on Samsung’s expected operating profit of approximately 300 trillion won this year, each storage business employee will receive a bonus of approximately 600 million won this year alone.
In stark contrast, employees in Samsung's mobile department received only about 6 million won in bonuses this year, a gap of 100 times.Employees of the DX department, which is responsible for the mobile phone, display and home appliance business, were extremely dissatisfied with this, so they chose to express their protest by wearing black clothes.
In Korean culture, black not only symbolizes wisdom, but is also used for mourning and funeral ceremonies. The implications of this collective action are self-evident.
The report also pointed out that the size of the union in Samsung's DX department is rapidly expanding, showing that dissatisfaction is no longer an isolated phenomenon.