Seoul: Samsung Electronics Co.'s largest labor union announced that its members have approved a confidence vote in Chairman Choi Seung-ho. This move reaffirms their support for the union leader despite the backlash over a recently concluded wage agreement with the company's management.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the motion passed with 87.5 percent support among participating members, following a voter turnout of 70.8 percent. The union's rules required more than half of the voting members to approve the motion for it to pass. In his statement, Choi emphasized the union's plan to pursue separate bargaining for Samsung's device solution (DS) division, which manages the company's profitable semiconductor operations, by leveraging South Korea's labor law provisions that permit bargaining-unit separation.

Choi stated, "Even if the separation is not approved, we will seek better results for the DS division through independent negotiations by the industrial union." The wage agreement reached in May includes a special semiconductor performance bonus of 10.5 percent of business performance earnings, to be distributed in company stock over a minimum of ten years. These bonuses are linked to performance targets in the chip division.

Despite this agreement, dissatisfaction has arisen over the distribution of the performance-based bonuses, leading to an exodus of union members. Many workers argue that the deal disproportionately benefits employees in the semiconductor sector. The union, which once had its membership concentrated among semiconductor employees and surpassed 76,000 members during wage negotiations, has since lost its majority union status due to declining membership.