Yoo Seung-min: "Government Must Actively Pursue Labor Reform... Must Persuade Opposition Parties and Labor Unions"

Raising Voices for 'Labor Reform' While Criticizing Government's Passive Attitude

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Yoo Seung-min, a former lawmaker who recently ranked first in the People Power Party's next party leader preference poll, raised his voice emphasizing the need for labor reform and urged the government to persuade the opposition party and labor unions.

On the 14th, Yoo said through his social network service (SNS), "A typhoon is approaching our economy, yet incomprehensible things are happening in our labor market."

He pointed out, "The Kia labor union boycotted the wage and collective agreement negotiations because of the reduction of lifetime employee benefits. The financial labor union, with an average annual salary exceeding 100 million won, is demanding a 36-hour workweek and retirement age extension, and plans to launch a general strike on the 16th. If this continues, reshoring will be out of the question, and companies will leave overseas even faster."

Yoo emphasized, "The dual structure of our labor market, the deadly outsourcing, and the unreasonable demands of large corporation labor unions are chronic problems," urging the government to actively pursue labor reforms that increase flexibility and strengthen the social safety net. He criticized, "If the unions and opposition party oppose, and we resign ourselves to failure and hesitate, nothing will be accomplished. We were elected by the people to establish principles with justification, persuade the opposition party and labor unions, carry out reforms, and thereby rebuild the Republic of Korea's economy."

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