Overview
- The union and Samsung reached a provisional agreement after 11 hours of talks on Wednesday that suspended a planned 18‑day strike by about 48,000 workers and set a ratification vote starting May 22.
- The deal allocates 10.5% of operating profit to special bonuses paid largely in treasury shares plus 1.5% in cash and is structured as a 10‑year, profit‑conditioned program with lock‑up periods.
- Bloomberg calculations and company estimates suggest semiconductor‑division workers could average about 513 million won in special payouts this year while an anonymous union source said a memory worker might receive about 626 million won.
- Markets rallied on the news with Samsung shares jumping roughly 8–8.5% to record levels and the deal averted company estimates that a strike could have caused losses as high as 100 trillion won and disrupted global chip supply.
- The agreement has provoked protests from non‑memory divisions and a small group of shareholders has threatened legal action, leaving ratification and governance risks as the next major questions.