SEOUL, A unified labor union covering the unions of four Samsung Group affiliates, including Samsung Electronics Co., was officially launched Monday.

“We want to move away from the current unreasonable labor relations in which each affiliate is controlled uniformly under the name of a group or business support task force, regardless of the business conditions, workforce structure and business interests of each affiliate,” the union said in a statement.

The unified labor union stressed that it will focus on improving workers’ welfare and building a constructive management-labor relationship without political color or an umbrella union.

Membership in the unified union includes unionized workers from Samsung Electronics’ device business, as well as those from Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Co., Samsung Display Co. and Samsung Biologics Co.

A labor union at Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. is scheduled to join the group in May.

It has a combined 15,800 members across the four member companies, including 6,1
00 from Samsung Electronics. The figure is expected to rise to 17,900 after May.

Source: Yonhap News Agency