On April 17, Samsung Electronics Service decided to directly employ over eight thousand workers of over ninety partner companies and guarantee legal union activities. The latest decision is quite drastic, for the company has opted to directly hire the workers instead of maintaining its existing method뾢stablishing a subsidiary and having the subsidiary hire the workers of partner companies as regular workers. This is particularly noteworthy, for the irregular (temporary) workers of a large company will have their status switched to regular workers and because Samsung will practically abandon its "union-less management," a policy that the company had insisted on for eight decades.

Samsung Electronics Service provides repair and maintenance services for home appliances sold by Samsung Electronics. It is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, which owns 99.33% of the company. In the past, other large companies such as Hyundai Motor Company, SK, and LG had switched to have their companies or subsidiaries directly hire the indirectly hired workers, but Samsung had maintained its policy of indirect employment. The Samsung Electronics Service Branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union, a union of Samsung Electronics Service partner companies, had demanded Samsung to recognize the status of the workers since 2013. But in January 2017, the Seoul Central District Court sided with Samsung Electronics Service. The court ruled that the repairpersons of the subcontractors could not be recognized as employees of Samsung Electronics Service.

This day, Samsung Electronics Service announced, "We have decided to guarantee legal union activities and labor and management have agreed to work for the development of the company." This is the first time since the foundation of the group in 1938 that a Samsung affiliate has openly recognized union activities, so this practically means that Samsung has abandoned its "union-less" policy. At present, besides Samsung Electronics Service, there are labor unions at Samsung C&T (formerly Everland), Samsung Welstory, and Samsung S-1 in the Samsung group, but their activities are extremely limited.

In a way, the latest decision may have been inevitable. Recently, the Prosecution Service obtained six thousand documents concerning Samsung's alleged attempt to break up the union and launched an investigation. Samsung is not likely to avoid charges of illegal dispatch of workers and unfair labor practices. Some experts argue that the latest decision was a measure to reduce the negative influence the company can have on the final trial of Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics (charged for bribery). This is also why some in labor are suspicious of Samsung's sincerity.

Samsung's "union-less management" is nothing more than management against basic rights, which does not recognize the rights of workers to form a union. If Samsung has abandoned the old-fashioned "union-less management," the company should also reestablish its management framework for the co-existence of management and labor. In addition, the company should break away from old and obsolete ways of thinking and a dependence on "cozy relations" with politics and strive to become a true global company.