① An employer should delete ‘exclusive bargaining union’ clause from collective agreements.
– The ‘exclusive bargaining union’ clause is invalid since it deprives other trade unions of their rights to bargain. Under exclusive bargaining union clauses, refusal by employer to bargain with other trade unions is considered an unfair labor practice.
– Trade unions are expected to demand, before implementation of the multiple unions system, that the exclusive bargaining union clause be revised to state ‘no other in-company associations besides the trade union shall negotiate or bargain with the employer.’
Limiting negotiation or bargaining rights of other groups in the workplace is unjustifiable because an employer should be able to listen to the difficulties of both the trade unions and other groups as well, as long as they are composed of company employees.
② An employer should delete the union shop clause as it requires employees to become members of a specific trade union upon employment with the company.
– Employees are free to decide whether to join a trade union or not. Making membership in a trade union a condition of employment is limited to workplaces where a trade union represents more than two-thirds of all employees.
– The union shop clause may lead to violation of individual rights to organize, discrimination against newly established trade unions, and add to conflicts between trade unions.
③ Check-off should be done away with and trade unions should collect membership dues from their members directly.
– The check-off clause makes it easy to establish trade unions because of the convenience of collecting union dues. For employers, however, check-off may cause confusion when there is dual union membership among the employees, as ‘payment of union dues’ is a likely determinant for membership computation.
– To prevent the workplace from being flooded with many trade unions and to establish sound union activities, trade unions themselves should collect union dues directly from their members.
Permitting check-off to only one particular trade union is considered discrimination against the others. If check-off is prohibited in the workplace, this should apply equally to all trade unions.
If check-off is permitted, the collective agreement should contain regulations on obtaining individual consent from union members.
④ An employer should minimize the provision of facilities for trade union activities such as offices and notice boards and present clear standards in providing such facilities. In particular, trade union offices should be located outside the workplace.
– Under the multiple unions system, new trade unions are expected to demand the same facilities as the existing trade union. In order to avoid accusations of unfair labor practice and violation of fair representation, employers need to have the clauses revised regarding the provision of union facilities.
– In particular, trade union offices should be located outside the workplace, far away from major production facilities since the office may function as a base for labor strikes influenced by external forces such as an umbrella union.
⑤ Labor-Management Council should be composed and operated according to the Act on the Promotion of Worker Participation and Cooperation.
– Provisions related to Labor-Management Councils in most collective agreements state that ‘the employer should operate Labor-Management Councils with the trade union’ but this may cause problems under the multiple unions system.
When new trade unions are established and the existing union finds itself no longer the representative of the majority of employees, worker representatives should be appointed according to the Act on the Promotion of Worker Participation and Cooperation. However, the existing trade union is likely to continue claiming the right to represent the employees.
⑥ Provision requiring agreement from trade unions to revise the Rules of Employment needs to be deleted.
– Regulations requiring agreement from the existing trade union to revise the Rules of Employment make it difficult for employers to exercise their right to enforce company rules.
⑦ Collective agreements should be concluded with signatures and seals of representatives of both the workers and employer.
– Although the representative of the bargaining representative (union) holds the right to conclude a collective agreement with an employer, it is expected that trade unions will insist on holding yes/no votes of their own members before accepting any collective agreements.
– An employer should not accept such requests for separate procedures since this may weaken the representative authority of the bargaining representative (union) and the stability of the bargaining process. Also, opposition by some trade unions will delay signing of the collective agreement.
⑧ Provisions which require ‘negotiation with or agreement by’ the trade union need to be deleted, and committees in which trade unions participate need to shut down.
– Requiring ‘negotiation or agreement’ with the trade union may violate the employer’s managerial rights, hinder prompt decision-making, raise the possibility of frequent bargaining, increase conflict over differences between labor and management, and pressure the employer to accept other trade union demands in exchange for agreement on one demand.
– Leaving the clause unchanged after the introduction of the multiple union system may bring chaos to the workplace.
⑨ An employer should refuse any demand from a trade union which may negatively affect the purpose behind unifying bargaining channels, such as agreeing to bargain separately or separating the bargaining units.
– It is expected that trade unions will demand that bargaining take on various forms in order to avoid unifying bargaining channels.
Also, division of bargaining units is the exclusive right of the Labor Relations Commission. Consent from the employer is to be obtained ’within 14 days after the participating trade unions are determined’. Consent obtained after the 14 days is considered invalid since it is a violation of imperative law (Ref. Guide to Enterprise-Level Multiple Trade Unions in Korea, MOEL, p.19 ).
⑩ All the trade unions at a workplace should participate in determining minimum services and decisions by the Labor Relations Commission need to be followed.
– Agreement on minimum services should be applied to the workplace as a whole. Therefore, participation and agreement by all trade unions at a workplace should minimize confusion.
– If an agreement on minimum services cannot be reached between labor and management, the employer must apply to the Labor Relations Commission for a decision on the matter.
– An employer should conclude minimum service agreements with all trade unions participating, and refuse demands for individual trade union agreement.
– An employer should be careful not to violate the duty to provide fair representation when allocating workers for minimum services. Decisions need to be made thoughtfully and rationally.