Economic Sector "Strongly Pushes" for Labor Reform in Second Half vs Labor Sector "Deterioration, Not Reform"

Diverging Views on 'Labor Reform' in the Second Half Economic Policy Direction

The business and labor sectors have shown mixed reactions to the economic policy direction for the second half of the year announced by the government on the 4th. In particular, while economic organizations called for strong promotion of labor reform, the labor sector criticized it as a "deterioration rather than reform."

On the 4th, when the economic policy direction for the second half of the year was announced, economic organizations such as the Korea Employers Federation commonly made requests regarding labor reform. The Federation stated, "We request that labor reform, one of the core tasks to enhance national competitiveness, be carried out with a sense of urgency to produce more effective results."

The Federation of Korean Industries expressed hope that "efforts to improve the economic structure through labor and education reform will be pursued in the right direction, contributing to enhancing our economy's competitiveness and sustainable growth." The Korea Association of Small and Medium Business also emphasized that dismantling distorted regulations and comprehensive structural reforms in labor, education, and pensions are important tasks.

On the other hand, the labor sector expressed generally critical opinions regarding the labor reform part.

Han Sang-jin, spokesperson for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), said in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 5th, "It is not reform but deterioration," and evaluated it as "a rehash of labor policies carried out so far, stemming from the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's fundamentally conglomerate- and wealthy-biased nature." Regarding the linkage of disclosure and tax benefits to enhance union accounting transparency, the spokesperson said, "Disclosure is a means to help investors make investment decisions, but who invests in labor unions?" and added, "If there are problems with union accounting, they are filtered internally and even criminally punished, so I don't know what more they want to do."

Na Byung-ho, policy director of the Korean Metal Workers' Union Federation, pointed out regarding labor-management legal order, "As a result of operating the labor-management misconduct reporting center, 85% were illegal acts by employers," and criticized, "In such cases, policy responses or specific details are not disclosed, and only unfavorable parts for unions are repeatedly selected and used."

Gong Seong-sik, policy director of the KCTU Public Transport Workers' Union, commented on the dual structure plan, "The passage of the amendment to Articles 2 and 3 of the Labor Union Act recognizing the worker status of special employment workers must precede," and criticized, "Rather than incorporating special employment workers into the existing Labor Standards Act or Labor Union Act system, proposing a separate legislative bill seems like an attempt to manage them in a gray area without fully recognizing labor rights." Regarding the promotion of advanced dispatch system, he said, "If it means expanding the industries where dispatch labor is possible as requested by the Korea Employers Federation so far, there is concern that the number of workers placed in unequal labor relations called indirect employment will increase."

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