Samsung Electronics' labour union said it secured the right to strike after 93.1 percent of members who voted backed industrial action, and it signalled a general strike in May. Samsung Electronics union joint struggle headquarters said on Tuesday the vote, held from March 9, completed the process to secure the legal right to strike with a 93.1 percent approval rate.

Three unions took part in the vote: the Samsung Electronics branch of the National Office Workers' Union, the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union and Samsung Electronics Union Donghaeng. Of 89,874 eligible union members, 66,019 voted for a turnout of 73.5 percent, and 61,456 cast ballots in favour.

The union said it has now legally secured the right to strike following a decision by the National Labor Relations Commission to suspend mediation and the result of the vote. The joint bargaining group, formed in November last year, held wage talks with management for a little more than 3 months but failed to narrow differences.

The union declared negotiations had broken down on Feb. 19 and applied for mediation by the commission. The commission decided to suspend mediation at a second mediation meeting on March 3. The union then converted its joint bargaining group into a joint struggle headquarters and moved to secure the right to strike.

The union's key demands for 2026 wage talks include transparency in performance bonus calculation standards, scrapping performance bonus caps and a 7 percent pay rise. Management proposed allowing employees to choose the funding basis for OPI (excess profit performance incentives) between 20 percent of EVA (economic value added) or 10 percent of operating profit. It also proposed a 6.2 percent pay rise, the grant of 20 treasury shares, higher salary caps by job grade and expanded long-service leave. Talks ultimately broke down as the union did not abandon its demand to scrap the OPI cap.

If a strike materialises, it would be the second general strike since the company was founded in 1969 and the first in about 2 years, following a 25-day general strike on July 2024. The joint struggle headquarters plans to hold a rally on April 23 and continue its campaign through a May general strike, demanding the normalisation of performance bonuses and the establishment of a fair compensation system.

The joint struggle headquarters said an overwhelming majority of Samsung Electronics workers had clearly declared that management's current proposal does not align with the company's "talent first" management principle, and called it a strong warning to executives to take action to meet their demands. It said it would apply step-by-step pressure on management through the April rally and the May general strike.