The Tripartite Commission Agrees on Introducing Labor Director System and Job-Based Pay in Public Institutions

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] A social agreement has been reached to reform the wage system of public institutions into a job-based pay system and to introduce a labor director system for workers' participation in management.

The Public Institutions Committee under the Economic, Social and Labor Council (ESLC), a social dialogue body directly under the President, announced on the 25th the "Agreement for the Sustainable Development of Public Institutions," which contains these details.

In the agreement, the Public Institutions Committee stated, "We will strive to reform the wage system so that objective job value is reflected in wages." This suggests changing the public institutions' wage system, which has been based on seniority, to a job-based pay system. The job-based pay system is based on the difficulty, value, and job performance ability of the job rather than the length of service.

However, there are expectations that actual implementation will be difficult due to opposition from labor groups. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is opposing the Public Institutions Committee's agreement on wage system reform. In a statement on the same day, the KCTU Public Transport Union said, "There is a high risk that the job-centered wage system reform will be pushed forward containing only the content unilaterally proposed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance."

In response, the Public Institutions Committee said, "The reform of the job-centered wage system will be promoted autonomously and gradually through individual public institution labor-management agreements reflecting the characteristics of each institution, rather than in a uniform or unilateral manner."

The Public Institutions Committee also stated, "We recommend that the National Assembly promptly conduct discussions on revising the Act on the Management of Public Institutions to introduce the labor director system." The labor director system allows worker representatives to attend the board of directors, guaranteeing workers' participation in management.

In addition, the Public Institutions Committee proposed institutional improvement measures such as managing personnel under the public institution wage peak system and suggested utilizing personnel subject to the wage peak system to support small and venture companies to create social value. They also agreed on follow-up discussions between labor groups and the government for wage system reform, including the introduction of the job-based pay system and improvement of the wage peak system in public institutions.

This agreement will be submitted as an agenda item to the main committee, the highest decision-making body within the ESLC, scheduled to be held around December, for approval.

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