Son Kyung-sik Visits Democratic Party: "Urgent Need to Advance Labor-Management Relations... Ruling Party Must Lead Labor Reform"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Sohn Kyung-shik, Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, on the 31st proposed to Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, the advancement of labor-management relations and the alleviation of corporate tax burdens.

At a meeting with Leader Song at the National Assembly in the afternoon, Chairman Sohn said, "The most urgent issue we need to resolve is the advancement of labor-management relations."

He stated, "Since the labor movement became full-fledged in the 1980s, the rights and interests of employee labor unions have been continuously strengthened. While companies have made changes and efforts such as transparent ethical management and social contribution, unfortunately, the labor movement still remains confrontational and combative," adding, "Now, uncompromising labor-management relations cannot respond to the new environmental changes in the post-COVID-19 era."

He continued, "I ask the government and ruling party to take the lead and properly guide labor reform," and said, "Companies will also make every effort to recover the economy and solve job issues."

Chairman Sohn appealed, "Measures to strengthen labor market flexibility while complementing the social safety net should also be gradually devised," and "Please pay attention to corporate tax issues that symbolically affect investment."

He emphasized, "I ask for support measures, including expanding investment tax credits, so that bolder investments can be made not only in semiconductors but also in promising industries such as future automobiles and bio," and added, "Also, inheritance tax, which is excessively high compared to global standards, must be drastically reduced."

Leader Song ordered, "I hope we can pool wisdom to quickly materialize the achievements of President Moon Jae-in's visit to the United States."

He said, "There were many gains from the recent Korea-US summit, including the global vaccine partnership, semiconductor, battery, and other core industry supply chain investment cooperation," and added, "I ask the Korea Employers Federation and the business community to make efforts so that the seeds sown for strengthening Korea-US economic cooperation can bear valuable fruit."

He also added, "Small business owners and self-employed people are facing considerable difficulties. We need to gather private sector strength to solve urgent tasks such as win-win cooperation between large and small-medium enterprises and overcoming the crisis of small business owners."

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