Justice Party "Yoon, Will Fight If Showing Anti-Labor Attitude"

"Yoon Seok-yeol Government's Regressive Labor View... Reasons for Workers' Unity and Struggle Resolution"
"Will Observe Fairness, Justice, and Common Sense Standards Applied to Workers"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On Labor Day, May 1st, the Justice Party stated, "We will observe how the standards of fairness, justice, and common sense promoted by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which will take office as president in 10 days, will be applied to workers," and added, "If the Yoon Seok-yeol government shows an anti-labor attitude, we will fight alongside the workers."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Justice Party leader Yeo Young-guk said at the '132nd World Labor Day Justice Party Commemoration Ceremony' held in front of the Jeon Tae-il Bridge at Cheonggyecheon, Jongno-gu, Seoul, "We solemnly warn the Yoon Seok-yeol government, which will be inaugurated in 10 days, that we will confront it through the solidarity of working citizens. On the occasion of the 132nd Labor Day, the Justice Party will make greater efforts to guarantee the basic rights for all workers to enjoy a more humane life and to promote the political unity of workers."

Leader Yeo also pointed out that workers' rights were not properly guaranteed even under the Moon Jae-in administration.

He said, "The Moon administration's slogan of respecting labor regressed into respecting conglomerates," and criticized, "Half of the working laborers are not even covered by basic rights. The number of workers who are not protected by the Labor Standards Act, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, or the Holiday Act has increased."

He continued, "The 132-year history of labor has been a history of struggle to reduce working hours for a humane life, secure employment stability, and improve working conditions," adding, "As we approach Labor Day, just before the inauguration of the Yoon Seok-yeol government, which is expected to reveal a regressive view of labor and disguise capital's greed as liberal democracy, it is also a reason to resolve to stronger unity and more desperate struggle."

On the same day, Justice Party floor leader Bae Jin-kyo recalled, "In 2020, the average annual working hours of Koreans was 1,908 hours, ranking among the highest among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)."

Floor leader Bae expressed frustration, saying, "Last year, 30 public officials died from overwork, and 22 delivery workers died from overwork in the past two years. The low female economic activity rate, career breaks, polarization between regular and non-regular workers, and layoffs and unpaid leave due to COVID-19 ? it is overwhelming to list all the poor working conditions," and added, "But what has the political sphere done? In the last presidential election, labor issues completely disappeared."

He emphasized, "What remains is only labor hatred, such as 'people should be able to work 120 hours a week' and 'manual labor is something done only in Africa,'" and stressed, "(The Justice Party) will revive the vanished labor agenda to ensure minimum labor conditions are protected in this local election."

Justice Party senior spokesperson Lee Dong-young said in a written briefing, "The soon-to-be-inaugurated Yoon Seok-yeol administration's anti-labor policies such as 'flexibilization of working hours,' 'differential application of minimum wage,' and 'weakening of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act' only fuel conflict and confrontation," and urged, "We call for the cessation of regressive labor policies and a transition to a labor-respecting and labor-safe society."

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