Economic 4 Organizations: "ILO Government Bill Biased Toward Labor... Employer Countermeasures Also Need Improvement"

Submitted Opinion to Government on the 9th... "A Critical Issue Changing the Basic Framework of Labor-Management Relations"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Economic organizations submitted their position to the government last month regarding the "Partial Amendment to the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act (Government Legislative Bill)" announced by the government, stating that "the tendency to lean towards labor unions will intensify further." Given that this is a significant issue that could change the basic framework of labor-management relations, they argued that the government should consider all demands from both labor and management and pursue comprehensive and integrated improvements to the legal system.

The four major economic organizations?the Korea Employers Federation, Korea Federation of SMEs, Korea International Trade Association, and Korea Federation of Medium-sized Enterprises?announced on the 10th that they had submitted their opinions to the government on the government legislative bill announced on the 28th of last month concerning the ratification of ILO Core Conventions No. 87 and No. 98. The main contents of the government bill include allowing labor union membership for dismissed workers and unemployed persons other than employees working at a business or workplace, deleting the prohibition on paying salaries to full-time union officials, and incorporating and integrating the current labor union full-time official system into the working hours exemption system.

The four economic organizations expressed concern that "the system of union membership limited to 'only those employed' is changing to a system recognizing union membership for 'non-employed persons as well,' which shakes the basic framework of our labor-management relations overall." They warned that "those legitimately dismissed, retirees, unemployed persons, and social activists unrelated to the company can join unions and exert substantial influence within the union, providing a foundation to impose unreasonable issues on companies."

Regarding the deletion of the prohibition on paying salaries to full-time union officials and the provision allowing "those engaged only in union work" to receive salaries from employers or unions, they pointed out that "this creates a problem by allowing employers to pay salaries to actual full-time union officials," and "it provides room to recognize union members' activities beyond the working hours exemption limit as paid through labor-management negotiations at industrial sites."

The business community views that if the bill is enacted as is, it will only strengthen the union's right to organize and expand union activities of members exceeding the working hours exemption limit, further intensifying the already skewed power balance favoring unions. They emphasized, "Our country's labor-management relations are heavily tilted toward unions compared to competing and advanced countries due to employers' weak rights to respond to unions' physical actions and unilateral regulations on unfair labor practices by employers," and "unions are conducting confrontational and militant labor movements based on their power advantage over employers."

They added, "Our country's confrontational labor-management relations and rigid labor market are core factors that undermine national competitiveness, consistently rated at the lowest level in national competitiveness evaluations."

On the other hand, economic organizations argue that employers' countermeasures are relatively weak. Unlike major advanced countries, Korea completely prohibits replacement labor under the Labor Union Act, making it impossible to use as a countermeasure against strikes. Regarding the only countermeasure, workplace lockouts, administrative authorities apply strict conditions, and employers face enormous losses, making execution difficult. The economic organizations said, "The government bill will further deepen the imbalance in labor-management relations, amplify labor conflicts at industrial sites, and impose greater burdens on industry and corporate competitiveness," and "unreasonable demands not linked to union productivity, struggles for reinstatement of dismissed workers, political off-site activities, illegal occupations, and other labor movement practices could cause significant side effects throughout labor-management relations."

Therefore, they acknowledged the necessity of allowing union membership for dismissed and unemployed persons following the ratification of the ILO core conventions but stressed that "this is a significant national issue that changes the basic framework of our labor-management relations." They urged, "The government should halt the amendment process and achieve comprehensive and integrated legal system improvements that consider labor and management demands equally to transform our labor-management relations into an advanced system." They added, "To balance the skewed labor-management landscape, employer countermeasures such as allowing replacement labor in line with global standards, improving the unfair labor practice system, and prohibiting workplace occupation during strikes must also be improved together."

The business community's position is that the current prohibition on paying salaries to full-time union officials and the basic framework of the working hours exemption system should be maintained. Regarding the working hours exemption system, they explained, "While maintaining the current system framework, the management system should be strengthened to operate more strictly," and "it is necessary to specifically limit the scope of application and permitted activities in the enforcement decree." They also stated, "In line with the reduction of the 52-hour workweek, it is appropriate to lower the exemption time limit for working hours exempted without work but paid to union officials, reflecting the current era."

Finally, the economic organizations unanimously agreed that it is not an appropriate time to push for ratification of the ILO core conventions. They said, "The expert panel investigation procedure related to the mandatory provisions of the Korea-EU FTA, cited as an external factor necessitating rapid ratification of the ILO core conventions, has also been suspended," and "at a time when we must focus on overcoming the economic crisis and restoring corporate and industrial competitiveness, pushing for ratification of the ILO core conventions through a labor union law amendment biased toward labor is inappropriate."

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