Union leader Choi Seung-ho, once hailed as a hero for securing a bonus package worth up to ~$26 billion for Samsung's chip employees, now faces a deeply divided workforce. The deal, fueled by the AI boom, created a massive pay disparity, with memory chip workers eligible for bonuses around $400,000, while employees in the mobile and home appliance divisions received closer to $4,000.
This chasm in compensation has led to widespread discontent among workers in less profitable divisions, with some protesting by wearing black to work. The internal conflict caused thousands of members to leave the union, weakening its collective bargaining power. The situation highlights a new challenge for tech labor, where industry-specific booms create significant internal wealth gaps, shifting conflicts from labor-versus-management to fractures within the workforce itself.