Labor Trends

From the introduction of the Multiple Union System at the company-level to the end of September, 498 new trade unions have been established. However, the number of new trade unions per month has continued to fall – 10.4 in July, 3.5 in August, 2.3 in September. New trade unions have also been separating from existing umbrella groups (409 trade unions, 82.1%), with 364 (73.1%) of them at workplaces with fewer than 300 employees.

Of the 350 companies closely monitored by the Ministry of Employment & Labor (MOEL), 320 (91.4%) of them have unified bargaining channels.

At its Central Executive Committee on October 10th, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) decided to defer striving for complete revision of the Trade Union Act and instead concentrate on negotiation with the government for the time being. Taking this opportunity, a conservative group within the FKTU is requesting its president (LEE Yong-deuk) to break off its coalition with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and work on improving relations with the government and political circles.

As for the KCTU, the original plan was to join with the FKTU to fight against the government in areas such as revision of the Trade Union Act and blockage of the Korea-US FTA. But negative views on cooperation with the FKTU are increasing in the KCTU due to the FKTU’s October 10 decision to halt activities towards revision of the Trade Union Act.

The FKTU operates a negotiation channel with the government to resolve pending issues such as wages for dispatched full-time union officials. Through this negotiation channel, the FKTU is expected to demand the maintenance of wages for dispatched full-time union officials and revision of the Multiple Union System.

On the other hand, the MOEL is emphasizing the importance of easing into the time-off system and the Multiple Union System in workplaces. Therefore acceptable results from the negotiations between the MOEL and the FKTU are not expected anytime soon.

The KCTU is expected to concentrate on the political fights around the Korea-US FTA and non-regular employment, holding a rally with such civic groups as the Korean Peasants League, A World Without Non-Regular Workers, and Power of the People.

This 3rd confederation plans to hold an inaugural meeting on November 1st, 2011, and submit a report of its establishment to the Ministry of Employment & Labor on November 2nd. So far, approximately 70 trade unions (including the Seoul Metro Labor Union, one labor union each from the Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation, Inchon Subway, and SH Corporation, the Federation of Local Government Employee Unions and trade unions from the bus and taxi industries) have pledged to join the new umbrella body. Together, these 70 unions represent 40,000 employees.

The new umbrella group will seek a more pragmatic view on labor issues and break away from the militancy created by the two existing umbrella unions. It is also expected to concentrate on expanding its influence in the private sector, engaging in government policy-making and strengthening coalitions with political groups. It is also looking to create labor representation in the Economic and Social Development Commission and actively engage in such areas as composition of public sector budgets and transport industry policy.

Labor and management in the financial sector reached agreement on issues regarding wages and social responsibility, and restoration of original wage levels for new recruitment. Financial trade unions withdrew their demands for an adjustment of work hours, prohibition of a performance-based wage system, and higher wages for non-regular workers. Industry-level labor and management in the financial sector hold negotiations on wages every year and collective agreements every other year.

Issue	Labor Group Demand	Agreement
Wages	8%+	Narrowed to 4.1%+
Wages for new employees (after 2009)	Restore original wage levels	Wages for new employees recruited after February 2009 to be restored by labor and management of each corporation.
Social Responsibility	Fundraising for the advancement of industrial relations	With regard to the difficult economy, labor and management should work together to make a fair society.