Combined labor union created for four major Samsung businesses

Combined labor union created for four major Samsung businesses [NEWS1]

A comprehensive labor union for a collection of Samsung businesses is set to launch next month for the first time.

The labor union is expected to represent four entities — Samsung Electronics' Device eXperience (DX) division, Samsung Display, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Samsung Biologics. The union had its first general assembly on Wednesday, according to industry reports.

This marks the first launch of such a comprehensive labor union for Samsung, distinct from the previous alliance-type union.

Last year, Samsung companies conducted surveys with existing unions to assess the feasibility of establishing an integrated labor union.

At Samsung Biologics, 99.5 percent of the union members agreed, while 96.12 percent of Samsung Display union members agreed. At Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, 90 percent of the union members agreed while 86 percent of Samsung Electronics' DX division voted for the comprehensive union.

Under the comprehensive union, the existing union at each company will serve as a branch.

The soon-to-launch union is expected to have some 13,000 members, including 6,000 members from Samsung Electronics' DX division, 3,000 members from Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, 3,000 from Samsung Display and 1,600 from Samsung Biologics.

So far, the biggest union at Samsung is the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union at Samsung Electronics with nearly 10,000 members.

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