16,000 Union Members... Samsung Group's Integrated 'Super-Enterprise Union' Officially Launched

Participation from Samjeon DX, Samdi, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, and Samsung Biologics unions
Samsung Electro-Mechanics to join in May
"Breaking away from the current uniform labor-management relations control"

The Samsung Group Trans-Enterprise Labor Union, a unified labor union encompassing the labor unions of four Samsung Group affiliates, officially launched on the 19th.

Samsung Electronics Seocho Building. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The trans-enterprise union held an inauguration ceremony in a conference room near Gangnam Station in Seoul on the same day and declared its official launch. Participating unions include the Samsung Electronics DX (Device Experience) Union, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Ribbon Union, Samsung Display Open Union, and Samsung Biologics Win-Win Union. The recently established Samsung Electro-Mechanics Respect Union has not yet officially joined but plans to do so around May after completing amendments to its bylaws.

In its launch declaration, the union stated, "We aim to break away from the unreasonable labor-management relations currently uniformly controlled under the name of group or business support task forces (TFs), regardless of each affiliate's business conditions, workforce structure, or business profits."

It added, "Our purpose is to establish the autonomy of individual affiliate labor-management relations and to set wages, welfare, and working conditions tailored to each company’s circumstances through flexible labor negotiations under equal relationships."

Hong Gwang-heum, the general chairman of the trans-enterprise union, explained, "Samsung’s wage negotiations have been controlled by guidelines without reflecting the circumstances of each affiliate in the wage increase rates. While we do not officially plan to create joint demands, the requirement is to conduct differentiated negotiations outside the group guidelines."

In particular, the trans-enterprise union emphasized that it will focus solely on improving the rights and interests of Samsung workers and establishing a healthy labor-management culture without any political affiliations or higher-level organizations. "We dream of realizing a legal and rational labor culture, breaking away from past political and violent labor cultures, thoroughly excluding political colors, and concentrating all efforts on the economic interests of Samsung workers, work-life balance, and establishing healthy working conditions," it said.

It also stated, "We will contribute to improving workers’ quality of life and balanced development of the company through a culture of mutual respect between labor and management and rational distribution of benefits, and become a new wave in South Korea’s labor culture through voluntary change from within, not from external labor organizations."

Although Samsung affiliate unions have occasionally shown solidarity, this is the first time a unified union has been established rather than a solidarity form. With the launch of the unified union, participating affiliate unions will become branches: Samsung Electronics DX Branch, Samsung Display Open Branch, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Ribbon Branch, and Samsung Biologics Win-Win Branch.

Currently, the trans-enterprise union has about 15,800 members in total. By branch, there are 6,100 members in the Samsung Electronics DX Branch, 4,100 in the Samsung Display Open Branch, 3,400 in the Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Ribbon Branch, and 2,200 in the Samsung Biologics Win-Win Branch. Including the 2,100 members of the Samsung Electro-Mechanics Respect Union, which is expected to join, the total is about 17,900 members. This is similar in scale to the nationwide Samsung Electronics Union, the largest among Samsung affiliates, which has about 17,000 members. There is also the possibility that other Samsung affiliate unions will join the trans-enterprise union in the future.

Chairman Hong said, "We are in close communication with unions in other affiliates that have not joined higher-level organizations and labor-management councils in affiliates without unions. If motivated individuals emerge in affiliates without unions, we plan to assist in establishing branches and support negotiations."

Meanwhile, the Samsung Display Open Union and Samsung Biologics Win-Win Union, which participate in the trans-enterprise union, recently conducted wage negotiations with their respective managements. The Samsung Display Open Union and Samsung Biologics Win-Win Union declared negotiation breakdowns on the 15th and 16th, respectively, and decided to apply for labor dispute mediation with the Central Labor Relations Commission (CLRC).

Yu Haram, chairman of the Samsung Display Open Union and senior vice chairman of the trans-enterprise union, said, "If there is no mediation from the CLRC and the management does not accept the mediation proposal, there may be support at the trans-enterprise union level, such as joint collective actions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.