Democratic Labor Union 'Tripartite Agreement Ratification Halfway Forum'... All Opponents Absent

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held a debate on the ratification of the 'Tripartite Agreement for Overcoming the COVID-19 Crisis' on the 21st.

On the afternoon of the same day, KCTU held a pros and cons debate on the tripartite agreement at the KCTU conference room in Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. This debate was broadcast live on YouTube. The 71st extraordinary delegate meeting, which will decide whether to ratify the tripartite agreement, will be held on the 23rd. However, the debate proceeded somewhat lacklusterly as the opposition faction did not attend.

In April, KCTU proposed a 'one-point' tripartite dialogue to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. Currently, KCTU is boycotting participation in the official social dialogue body, the Economic, Social and Labor Council. Afterwards, a tripartite representatives meeting involving Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, the Korea Employers Federation, and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions was held and seemed to reach an agreement, but KCTU did not attend the signing ceremony for the agreement due to opposition from hardliners in the Central Executive Committee.

Accordingly, Chairman Kim decided to convene an online extraordinary delegate meeting on the 23rd to submit the tripartite agreement. The vote results at the delegate meeting could have a significant impact not only on the tripartite agreement but also on the future direction of KCTU.

At the debate, Hwang Byung-rae, chairman of the National Health Insurance Labor Union and a proponent of the agreement, responded to the opposition's objection that the tripartite agreement did not explicitly prohibit layoffs by asking, "If you reject the employment maintenance included in the tripartite agreement because there is no layoff ban, will a layoff ban actually come about?"

Chairman Hwang said, "All negotiations aim for 80 to 100%, but you cannot achieve everything because there is an opposing party," and evaluated that "KCTU can say it has achieved results by participating in social dialogue."

Oh Jung-hoon, chairman of the National Union of Mediaworkers, argued, "(The tripartite agreement) is a promise of goals and directions that labor, management, and government must work together to overcome the COVID-19 crisis," and insisted, "It is right to sign the agreement on the premise that it is the second best, not the best, and incomplete, not complete."

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