1. Major Statistics on Industrial Relations in Q3
1) Updates on Multiple Trade Unions
A total of 498 trade unions applied for certification between July 1st (when multiple unions at the enterprise level were allowed) and September 31st. On average, applications per day have been on the decline.
【 Figure 1 】 New Trade Unions
Eighty-nine (17.9%) of these trade unions were established at workplaces that had had no previous unions, while 409 (82.1%) came out of existing unions.
【 Figure 2 】 Types of New Trade Unions
By size of workplace, 73% of new trade unions were established at workplaces with fewer than 300 employees and 90 (19.1%) new trade unions include the majority of total employees.
【 Figure 3 】 Number of New Trade Unions by Workplace Size
Of the new trade unions, 426 (85.5%) are reported to be unaffiliated with either the KCTU or FKTU. Of the 350 workplaces closely monitored by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 320 (91.4%) unions are reported to have unified bargaining channels. Of these, 89.8% belong to the FKTU and 86.2% belong to the KCTU.
2) Labor Disputes and Lost Working Days
With the implementation of the Multiple Union System, the number of labor disputes has been decreasing along with the number of lost working days. By the end of Q3 this year, there were 46 recorded labor disputes (down YOY by 17, or 27%) and 375,777 lost working days (down YOY by 13,000, or 3.3%) despite the prolonged strike at Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction. Thirty-six of the labor strikes occurred at workplaces affiliated with the KCTU, 6 strikes at workplaces affiliated with the FKTU, and 4 at workplaces with no affiliation with either umbrella union.
【 Figure 4 】Cumulative No. of Labor Disputes and Lost Working Days, end of Q3 2011 (Units: cases, days)
3) Wage Increases and Collective Bargaining over Wages
By the end of Q3 2011, wages had risen an average of 5.2 %, up 0.3 % over last year due to recent inflationary pressure.
【 Figure 5 】 Wage Increases as of September of Each Year (Unit: %)
Collective bargaining agreements over wages were also concluded at 53.3% of the total workplaces. As management and labor have significantly different views of the new time-off system and various business issues, negotiations over wages have been delayed for many companies. However, labor and management were strategically pushing to end wage negotiations before the Multiple Union System was implemented.
4) Declarations of Labor-Management Cooperation
The total number of labor-management declarations of cooperation has slightly decreased to 2,317 YOY (year-on-year). Of these, 412 declarations were adopted at workplaces affiliated with the FKTU and at 50 of those affiliated with the KCTU. Of workplaces with no affiliated trade unions, 1,776 declarations were adopted.
【 Figure 6 】 Rate of Completed Collective Bargaining over Wages by end of September; by Year(Unit: %)
【 Figure 7 】 Cumulative No. of Declarations of Labor-Management Cooperation in the 1st Three Quarters, by Year(Unit: Cases)
