'Paid Union Officials' Increase... 'Time Off' Adjustment Discussed After 8 Years

First Meeting of the Working Hours Exemption Deliberation Committee
Labor: "Full-time representatives have many tasks such as resolving industrial accidents and workplace harassment"
Chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council: "Request deliberation at an appropriate time"

Moon Sung-hyun, Chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, a social dialogue body under the direct control of the President. (Image source=Yonhap News)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The limit on paid union officials, which sets the standard for how many paid union officials a labor union can have, is expected to be adjusted for the first time in eight years.

On the 6th, the Economic, Social and Labor Council (ESLC), a social dialogue body under the direct control of the president, announced that it had launched the Working Hours Exemption Deliberation Committee and held its first plenary meeting. The Deliberation Committee is the body that sets the limit on working hours exemption. According to the revised Labor Union Act, which came into effect on this day, the authority was transferred from the Ministry of Employment and Labor to the ESLC. This is the first time the Deliberation Committee has convened since the adjustment of the working hours exemption limit in 2013.

The working hours exemption system recognizes the union activities of full-time union officials, such as labor-management negotiations, handling worker grievances, and industrial safety, as paid work. Unions can have paid full-time officials within the working hours exemption limit. The larger the number of union members, the higher the working hours exemption limit, resulting in an increase in the number of paid full-time officials.

The existing Labor Union Act prohibited payment of salaries to full-time officials in the name of guaranteeing union autonomy but introduced the working hours exemption system to ensure the union activities of full-time officials. The revised Labor Union Act deleted the provision banning salary payments to union full-time officials in accordance with the International Labour Organization (ILO) core conventions but maintained the basic framework of the working hours exemption system.

If the working hours exemption limit increases, the number of full-time officials will also increase. The labor sector argues for raising the limit, stating that the role of union full-time officials in resolving workplace issues such as industrial accidents and workplace harassment has grown. Lee Dong-ho, Secretary General of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and a worker member of the Deliberation Committee, said, "Due to restrictions on the number of full-time officials, the role and activities of higher-level organizations that should lead labor-management relations have been greatly diminished, and union activities in small and medium-sized workplaces are facing significant difficulties," raising the need to adjust the working hours exemption limit.

The adjustment of the working hours exemption limit is to be deliberated by the Deliberation Committee within 60 days upon request by the ESLC chairman. Moon Sung-hyun, chairman of the ESLC, said, "Once the fact-finding survey and presentations of labor and management opinions are completed and the overall conditions mature, we plan to request deliberation at an appropriate time in consultation with the chairperson of the Working Hours Exemption Deliberation Committee and the secretaries of labor, management, and public interest members."

The transfer of the Working Hours Exemption Deliberation Committee from the Ministry of Employment and Labor to the ESLC under the revised Labor Union Act is intended to allow labor and management to autonomously set the working hours exemption limit through a neutral institution in accordance with the ILO core convention standards. The Deliberation Committee consists of 15 members: five worker members, five employer members, and five public interest members.

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