Samsung Electronics, labor union agree to 5.1 percent wage increase

Samsung Electronics and its largest union reached a tentative agreement for a 5.1% wage increase for 2023-2024, along with benefits like internal shopping points.

Samsung Electronics' Seocho headquarters in southern Seoul [NEWS1]

Samsung Electronics and its largest labor union on Thursday reached a tentative agreement of a 5.1 percent raise in wages for the years of 2023 and 2024.

The agreement comes 10 months after the two sides initiated on a wage negotiation for the two years in January.

The management and the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), representing an estimated 24 percent of the work force, agreed on 2 million points that can be used like cash on the company's internal shopping platform as well as paid time for those attending the union's assemblies.

The union's wage will rise by 5.1 percent, per the previous agreement from March. The union had originally asked for a 6.5 percent pay raise.

The tentative agreement will be subject to union ratification per a vote that will take place from Nov. 14 to 21.

“Samsung Electronics will use the latest wage agreement as an opportunity for labor-management harmony and will focus on strengthening business competitiveness moving forward,” the company said in a release Thursday.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]