Korea Federation of SMEs Expects Speaker Woo Won-sik to Pass Bill Excluding 담함

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced on the afternoon of the 31st that it held a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, who visited Kbiz in Yeouido, to discuss urgent SME issues requiring social grand compromise for coexistence, livelihood stabilization, and labor-management harmony.

The meeting was attended by about 30 people, including Kim Won-i, the secretary of the Industry, Trade, and Small and Medium Venture Business Committee (Democratic Party), Shin Jang-sik (Party for National Innovation), Jin Sun-hee, Deputy Director of Legislation at the National Assembly Secretariat, and the chairpersons of SME organizations.

Woo Won-sik, Speaker of the National Assembly (left), and Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business. (Photo by Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business)

Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of Kbiz, expressed his gratitude to Speaker Woo Won-shik for visiting Kbiz to communicate with SMEs amid growing concerns among many citizens and SMEs over various social conflicts and the National Assembly’s political strife.

Referring to the achievements of the 21st National Assembly, Chairman Kim said, “The passage of the delivery payment linkage system with unanimous consent from both ruling and opposition parties, without a single dissenting vote, was a great achievement not only for the SME sector but also in terms of ‘social consensus.’” He added, “Although it is regrettable that the bill to exclude collusion in cooperative joint projects was discarded, since the bill is being prepared again in the 22nd National Assembly, we hope it will be passed promptly.”

He then told Speaker Woo, “Currently, SMEs are going through difficult times due to the three major labor issues: the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the 52-hour workweek system, and the minimum wage,” emphasizing, “Please refrain from political strife on economic issues and find a way for companies and workers to coexist.”

Additionally, Chairman Kim conveyed SMEs’ concerns about the National Assembly’s situation, urging, “Please put aside political strife on economic issues and find a path for South Korea’s development.”

In response, Speaker Woo referred to the recent TMON and WEMAKEPRICE incidents, stating, “I will actively seek bipartisan cooperation measures in the National Assembly to revive SMEs and the livelihood economy so that urgent livelihood issues are not delayed.”

Speaker Woo also said, “The National Assembly must reinvent itself as a socio-economic dialogue platform. Regarding various topics such as labor, environment, and industrial transition, it should reflect not only the understanding of large corporations but also the perspectives of SMEs and labor-management relations related to primary and subcontractor relationships,” adding, “That is the new future model of dialogue.”

He emphasized, “We will focus on the issue of bargaining rights as a central agenda for relatively economically vulnerable groups such as SMEs.”

He continued, “SMEs, which account for 83% of nationwide jobs, are the source of saving and growing South Korea’s companies and jobs,” and said, “We must create cooperative relationships for coexistence through social dialogue.”

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