Serious Accident Punishment and Pro-Labor Union Laws... Flood of High-Intensity 'Corporate Shackles Laws'

Fivefold Damage Compensation, Minimum Threshold Set
Introduction of Joint Bargaining Units and More
Simultaneous Regulations Unleashed

Business Community: "Union-Biased Laws Force
Prolonged Labor-Management Conflicts Inevitable"

[Asia Economy Reporters Park Cheol-eung, Sung Ki-ho] Following the so-called three major corporate regulatory laws?the Commercial Act, the Fair Trade Act, and the Financial Group Integrated Supervision Act?the political sphere is flooding with ultra-stringent regulatory bills such as the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and labor-biased bills, causing extreme anxiety in the business community. There is concern that if these bills, which tighten restrictions on companies already struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are passed simultaneously, it could lead to a situation where companies might have to worry about their very survival. While companies are appealing for careful handling of these ultra-stringent regulatory bills, the political sphere’s response to engage in communication remains cold.

◆ Serious Accidents Punishment Act: Ruling Party Proposes a Bill Even Stronger Than the Opposition’s = According to political circles on the 12th, the Democratic Party of Korea plans to decide its stance on the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which was jointly proposed by the party’s Labor Respect Practice Parliamentary Group and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, through a Supreme Council meeting on the 13th. Earlier, when asked about the possibility of adopting the bill as party policy in response to the Justice Party’s request, Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon replied, "It should not be such a difficult issue," indicating a high likelihood of party policy adoption.

The Serious Accidents Punishment Act was proposed during the 19th and 20th National Assemblies but was automatically discarded due to concerns over corporate burdens. However, recently, the Justice Party reintroduced it as the first bill of the 21st National Assembly, bringing the discussion to the surface. The Democratic Party, which submitted the bill slightly later, actually strengthened the standards compared to the Justice Party’s version. While the Justice Party’s bill imposes punitive damages on companies ranging from 3 to 10 times the amount of damages, the ruling party set the minimum threshold at 5 times.

Companies are expressing bewilderment. The Serious Accidents Punishment Act is an even more stringent law, coming on top of the comprehensive revision of the Industrial Safety and Health Act, which punishes business owners in the event of workplace fatalities and has been in effect since this year, inevitably increasing the burden on companies. Moreover, the fact that all major political parties in the National Assembly support the bill makes the situation even more difficult.

◆ Ruling Party Proposes Bill Introducing 'Joint Bargaining Unit' to Strengthen Union Bargaining Rights = The bigger problem is that ultra-stringent regulatory bills that tighten restrictions on companies are pouring down like a waterfall.

One representative ultra-stringent regulation is the "Partial Amendment to the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act" recently proposed by Democratic Party proportional representative lawmaker Lee Soo-min. According to this bill, if either party involved in labor relations requests joint bargaining, the Central Labor Relations Commission will review and introduce a joint bargaining unit. Once a joint bargaining unit is formed, individual bargaining or concluding collective agreements independently is prohibited, giving it compulsory power. Lawmaker Lee’s bill designates industries such as cargo handling, transportation, construction, and healthcare as eligible for forming joint bargaining units but leaves room to expand the scope of industries through presidential decree.

Lawmaker Lee explained the reason for proposing the bill: "There are opinions that industrial and regional bargaining units should be considered based on the similarity of industries and labor relations, the organizational form of labor unions, the positions of labor and management, bargaining practices, and geographical proximity." He added, "By diversifying bargaining structures such as industry-specific and sector-specific bargaining beyond the current principle of bargaining within a single business or workplace, the goal is to unify working conditions in similar industries and peacefully resolve disputes." Previously, lawmaker Ahn Ho-young from the same party proposed a bill with a broader scope for joint bargaining units. Ahn’s bill allows parties in labor relations to autonomously choose various bargaining methods such as company, industry, or regional bargaining, and requires employers to engage in bargaining with all unions that request negotiations if individual bargaining occurs.

Companies view the amendment to the Labor Union Act as effectively forcing a system favorable to unions, since joint bargaining proceeds if either party in labor relations demands it. Critics point out that if a single joint proposal is derived without considering the different management situations of each company, prolonged labor-management conflicts are inevitable. An even greater concern is that collective agreements vary significantly by company. Even in countries that recognize joint bargaining units, the trend has recently shifted toward individual bargaining. For example, in the U.S. automobile industry, the national union negotiates individually with companies every four years on behalf of workers. In Canada, joint bargaining is only recognized in certain industries where it is impossible to secure a bargaining representative union, such as construction, port transportation, and railroads.

Lee Jun-hee, head of the Labor Relations Legislation Team at the Korea Employers Federation, pointed out, "While there are countries that conduct joint bargaining, the situation is different from ours. In Korea, collective agreement negotiations cover all aspects of corporate management, including employee welfare, personnel, and labor matters, so integrated negotiations that ignore differences between companies are unreasonable."

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