Samsung DX division to hold town hall amid growing bonus tensions

Samsung Electronics Co. plans to hold a town hall meeting for all Device eXperience (DX) division employees in October amid growing internal dissatisfaction over performance-based bonuses.

According to industry sources on Sunday, Roh Tae-moon, chief executive officer and head of DX division at Samsung Electronics will meet employees directly next month. Other senior executives will also attend the meeting to answer employees’ questions and exchange views on management issues.

Samsung Electronics previously briefed some executives and team leaders on the town hall, but its date, agenda and any compensation measures have yet to be finalized.

Key topics are expected to include the performance-bonus gap between the DX division, which oversees smartphones, home appliances and other finished products, and the Device Solutions (DS) division, which oversees semiconductors, as well as emergency management and the transition to artificial intelligence (AI). The bonus gap is expected to draw the most attention.

The DX-centered labor union is continuing a protest outside Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee’s home in Yongsan District, central Seoul, following protests at the company’s Suwon campus and Seocho office. The union continued its protest outside Lee’s home on Friday, the Chuseok holiday, calling on the company to enter into talks.

The union has criticized the compensation gap with the DS division as excessive and pointed to substantial long-term performance incentives for executives even as the company’s earnings deteriorate.

It has called for a companywide pool of funds to allow the semiconductor and finished-product businesses to offset each other over the long term as their business cycles fluctuate.

Samsung Electronics, however, has maintained a policy of separately determining performance-bonus funds based on the business results of the DS and the DX divisions.

The company is expected to use the meeting to respond to employees’ demands and explain measures to improve earnings and strengthen competitiveness.

The meeting may also address an alleged “union blacklist” created and shared by officials of the broader company labor union, including whether the company will apologize and announce measures to prevent a recurrence.

Union officials, including leader Choi Seung-ho, were previously referred to prosecutors over allegations that they created and shared a file containing the names, employee numbers and union membership status of more than 100,000 Samsung Electronics employees.