45% of Citizens Say "There Was Financial Corruption in Majority Labor Unions"

General Meeting of Executives, Survey of 510 Citizens Conducted

Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik is speaking at the "2023 Ministry of Employment and Labor Labor Reform Promotion Review Meeting" held on the morning of the 12th at the Occupational Safety and Health Headquarters in Sejong City.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Many people cited the frequent emergence of corruption cases such as union fee embezzlement as the reason why labor unions must operate their finances and accounting transparently. Some also viewed the fact that unions conduct internal audits only as a privilege.

According to the survey results of the "Public Perception on Union Finance and Accounting Operations," conducted by the Korea Employers Federation on 510 citizens on the 13th, 96% of respondents answered that "union finances and accounting need to be operated transparently." Among the reasons for this view, 45% pointed to the occurrence of corruption cases related to financial management in many unions.

The secretary-general of a non-regular workers' union at an automobile company used 75 million won of union fees for gambling and other purposes. He was sentenced to one year in prison for embezzlement in the course of duty. The branch chief of a ground handling service union at a major airline spent 370 million won on entertainment expenses. The chairman of the Construction Industry Union embezzled 1 billion won of union fees and was sentenced to four years in prison last month.

In addition, 25% of respondents considered it an excessive privilege that unions conduct only internal audits on finances exceeding 100 billion won. About 17% answered that union fees are used for political struggles unrelated to improving members' working conditions.

As a measure to ensure transparency, 31% said that penalties should be strengthened for accounting fraud or violations of disclosure obligations, the highest proportion. Opinions advocating the operation of a disclosure system for union accounting accounted for 28%, followed by 25% who suggested restricting the qualifications of union auditors to external certified public accountants or other experts.

According to data previously released by the Korean Labor Law Association, in the United States, unions are required to submit accounting reports including assets and liabilities, external receipts, salaries, and income. These reports can also be disclosed externally. In the UK and Japan, laws are in place to ensure that union auditors have expertise and to exclude those directly or indirectly involved with the union or full-time union officials. Our government has also made it a major topic in political and industry circles this year by deciding to establish a union accounting disclosure system.

Lee Dong-geun, Vice Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, said, "Unlike South Korea, where most unions conduct only internal audits, major countries enhance transparency through strict regulations such as mandatory submission of accounting reports related to union finances and restrictions on auditor qualifications. Practical measures are needed to improve the transparency and professionalism of finances and accounting."

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