"37% of Public Sector Collective Agreements Illegal"…Government Draws Sword Against Unions Again

On the morning of the 1st, members of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Headquarters of the National Construction Workers' Union held a rally in front of Gwangju City Hall. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The government’s investigation into collective agreements of 479 public sector institutions found illegal or invalid provisions in 179 institutions. Among these were numerous legal violations, including granting unreasonable privileges to union officials and infringing on personnel and management rights. The government plans to impose criminal penalties if labor and management do not rectify such illegal collective agreements and union bylaws.

On the 17th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that its investigation, which began in March this year into collective agreements and union bylaws in the public sector?including civil servants, teachers, and public institutions?found illegal or invalid content in 179 out of 479 institutions (37.4%). Additionally, violations of the Labor Union Act were confirmed in 6 out of 48 union bylaws of civil servants and teachers.

This investigation was conducted as part of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s efforts to establish the rule of law in labor unions. The Ministry of Employment and Labor stated, "Labor reform starts with labor-management rule of law that corrects illegalities and privileges at the workplace, and especially the public sector must play a model role," adding, "the public sector requires a high level of responsibility, morality, and democracy due to the public nature of its work, job security, and the support of taxpayers’ money."

In the case of civil servants, many illegal cases were found where matters that cannot be stipulated in collective agreements by law were nonetheless agreed upon by labor and management. These include prohibiting reductions in institution staffing due to restructuring and organizational reorganization, including union-recommended outsiders in personnel committees, and requiring agreement with the union before executing performance bonuses.

Labor and management of civil servants and teachers concluded collective agreements that violated laws by stipulating that collective agreement provisions take precedence over ordinances and regulations when the agreement is more favorable, or by revising ordinances and regulations to conform to the collective agreement. They also considered injuries occurring during union activities as work-related injuries without following the prescribed legal procedures, and set special leave for local government officials by collective agreement instead of ordinance.

Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik is looking around the press conference room with his lips tightly sealed before giving a briefing on "Strengthening Transparency in Labor Union Accounting and Eradicating Unfair Hiring" at the Government Seoul Office Annex in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on April 20. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

In 135 institutions (28.2%), collective agreements were found that included unfair privileges to unions and union members and infringements on the institution’s personnel and management rights. Although a prison sentence of more than a year would normally result in retirement or dismissal, union officials were excluded from this due to their union activities, and non-working union members were allowed unrestricted access to union offices within government buildings.

In particular, there were provisions preventing hiring if there were concerns about union activity interference, and requiring acceptance of union demands to reject the hiring of specific employees. Additionally, collective agreements were found that prohibited personnel transfers of union officials during their terms and required agreement with the union on personnel and disciplinary actions, distorting personnel and management in the public sector.

Among union bylaws, provisions were detected where the chairperson unilaterally suspended the rights of members wishing to withdraw from the union, hindering withdrawal from higher-level organizations, and where union officers were appointed by the chairperson’s unilateral decision without direct, secret, or anonymous voting procedures at general or delegate meetings.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to share the investigation results with relevant ministries to improve illegal and unreasonable elements in public sector collective agreements and respond at the government-wide level.

At a briefing held at the Government Seoul Office on the same day, Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik emphasized, "We will order corrections through the labor relations commission for illegal collective agreements and union bylaws, and if there is non-compliance, we plan to impose criminal penalties for violations of labor relations laws." He added, "For unreasonable or invalid collective agreements, we will recommend that labor and management voluntarily improve them, and actively support labor and management to improve on their own in cooperation with relevant ministries."

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