69% of Domestic Companies Say "Labor-Management Relations More Unstable This Year," 32% Expect "2% Wage Increase Rate"

KCCI '2022 Labor-Management Relations Outlook Survey'

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] Two out of three domestic companies expect labor-management relations to become more difficult this year compared to last year.

The Korea Employers Federation announced on the 17th that, based on a '2022 Labor-Management Relations Outlook Survey' conducted among 151 member companies (respondents), 68.9% predicted that labor-management relations would become more unstable this year than last year.

According to the survey, only 0.7% of companies responded that relations would be "much more stable," and 2.6% said "somewhat more stable." On the other hand, 49.7% responded "somewhat more unstable," and 19.2% said "much more unstable." Additionally, 27.8% expected the situation to be "about the same as last year."

The most cited factor for labor-management instability this year was "the 20th presidential election and a pro-labor legislative environment," at 48.8%. Other factors included "increased labor union struggles (26.4%)," "conflicts related to current issues such as employment stability and industrial safety (12.0%)," "increased labor-management conflicts surrounding wage and collective bargaining (10.4%)," and "expansion of labor union organization (2.4%)."

Regarding this year's wage increase level, "around 2%" was the top response at 32.5%. This was followed by "around 3% (22.5%)," "around 1% (12.6%)," "wage freeze (11.9%)," "5% increase (10.6%)," "around 4% (8.6%)," and "wage cuts (1.3%)."

The main issues in this year's wage and collective bargaining were primarily "wage system reform (25.8%)," "employment stability (17.2%)," "retirement age extension (16.6%)," and "staff recruitment (13.2%)." Other issues included "introduction of flexible working hours (9.3%)," "expansion of labor union activities (7.3%)," "demands related to industrial safety and industrial accident compensation (6.6%)," and "regularization and treatment improvement of non-regular workers (3.3%)."

Among the major labor-related laws and institutional improvement tasks that the next government should address, "improvement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act" was the most cited at 33.1%. Other responses included improvement of the unfair labor practices system (23.2%), "flexibilization of the working hours system (17.9%)," "easing of dismissal regulations (9.3%)," "allowing replacement labor during disputes (7.9%)," "prohibition of disputes within workplaces (4.0%)," "simplification of procedures for changing employment rules (3.3%)," and "codification of the prohibition on paying salaries to full-time union officials (1.3%)."

Hwang Yong-yeon, head of labor-management cooperation at the Korea Employers Federation, stated, "Companies are quite concerned about the populist moves of the political circles ahead of the presidential election," adding, "We hope the new government will urgently improve laws such as the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and the unfair labor practices system, which significantly hinder corporate management activities, and create a business-friendly environment."

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