① Discussion on working hours and ordinary wage at the Subcommittee on the Promotion of Social Dialogue
The Subcommittee on the Promotion of Social Dialogue (hereinafter “the Subcommittee”), launched by the Environment & Labor Committee (ELC) of the National Assembly, is expected to discuss such issues as working hours and ordinary wage up until April 15th.
[Table 1] Composition of the Subcommittee
| <Politicians> Geh-ryoon Shin (Subcommittee Chairman, Democratic Party), Sung-tae Kim, Jong-hoon Lee (Saenuri Party), Young-pyo Hong (Democratic party) <Government> Minister of Employment & Labor <Business> Chairmen each from the KEF, K-biz and KCCI <Labor> President of the FKTU (KCTU not participating) |
[Table 2] Priority Issues of the Trade Unions
|
Trade Union |
Issues |
|
FKTU |
① Expanding the range of collective bargaining agreements, ② Labor rights of independent workers, ③ Labor rights of civil servants and teachers, ④ Restrictions on damage compensation and provisional attachments against trade unions, ⑤ Payment of wages to full-time union officials, o Strengthening requirements for layoff, ⑥ Labor relations in the public sector |
|
KCTU |
① Article 2 of the Trade Union Act (definition of ‘worker’ and ‘employer’ etc.), ② Ordinary wage and layoff l Restrictions on damage compensation and provisional attachments against trade unions, ③ Article 12 of the Special Act on Teachers & Civil Servants and the Trade Union Act, ④ Reduction of working hours. |
Since its establishment, the Subcommittee has held two meetings with the representatives, and two bargaining meetings. At the 2nd representatives’ bargaining meeting, items for discussion were narrowed down to ① reduction of working hours, ② improvement of labor-management/labor-government relations, and ③ ordinary wage. Discussion on the reduction of working hours began on March 17th. The discussion on improving labor-management/labor-government relations is likely to cover all the issues proposed by the both business and the trade unions, including 7 issues proposed by the FKTU.
Most of these issues will be discussed during the representatives’ bargaining meeting which is composed of congressmen Sung-tae Kim (Saenuri Party), Jong-hoon Lee (Saenuri Party), Young-pyo Hong (Democratic Party), the Acting Chairman of the KEF, Vice-Chairman of K-biz, Vice-Chairman of the KCCI, the FKTU General Secretary and the Vice-Minister of Employment and Labor.
The Subcommittee plans to solve these issues as a package deal after the discussion by legislating some issues, if necessary and transfer other issues to the Tripartite Commission. Of particular note is that the politicians are considering legislating some issues depending on the results of the talks, regardless labor and management have reached an agreement. Legal revisions to ‘working hour reduction and ordinary wage’ and strengthening the conditions for layoff are expected to be core issues for the Subcommittee.
② Company-level collective bargaining seems to begin in early April
Company-level bargaining seems to begin in early April as major industry-level unions, including the KMWU (Korean Metal Workers’ Union) and large company unions finalize their collective bargaining demands.
The KMWU plans to hold its first central level bargaining on April 8th, while collective bargaining for car makers seems to begin in late April. The KHMU (Korea Health & Medical Workers’ Union) began industry-level bargaining with municipal public hospitals on March 13th. Bargaining with private hospitals is expected to begin in late April. Collective bargaining by public sector trade unions is expected in early April.
For this year’s collective bargaining, labor seems to demand expansion of the scope of ordinary wage, retroactive payment of the overtime work allowance for the past 3 years, extension of the retirement age without a wage peak system, and reduction of working hours with no wage cut. Labor costs are expected to increase further, particularly for the companies paying higher wages due to the ruling of the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the KCTU has announced its plans to hold a general strike in late June and requested the participation of its affiliated unions.
③ Labor-government conflict deepens around normalization of the public sector
Two major umbrella unions have formed a ‘joint response team’ with the aim of confronting the government on its plans to normalize public institutions.
Currently, 199 trade unions in the public sector are participating in the joint response team including FKTU-affiliated unions (the Korean Financial Industry Union, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the Federation of Korean Public Industry Trade Unions) and KCTU-affiliated unions (the Korean Public & Social Services and Transportation Workers’ Union, the Korea Health & Medical Workers’ Union, the Korean Federation of Clerical & Financial Workers’ Unions).
<Plans of the Joint Response Team>
▴ April: Begin collective bargaining, refuse management assessment
▴ May: Labor strife leading up to local elections
▴ June: General strike
As the government plans to respond vigorously to strikes and rallies led by public sector unions, labor-government conflict in this area is expected to continue.