Trends in the National Assembly

1. 20^th National Assembly consists of 18 standing committees, with a majority in all committees held by opposition parties.

The Minjoo Party designated chairman of the National Assembly who manages general operations of the National Assembly and selects bills during the plenary sessions. Of the 18 standing committees, eight are decided to be chaired by the ruling party and 10 by opposition parties.

Members of each standing committee, such as the Environmental & Labor Committee, approved an agenda fast track system*. This will enable passage of specific bills with the opposition parties operating in solidarity.

*According to Article 85-2 of the National Assembly Act, an agenda fast track system is enabled upon approval of 3/5 of the incumbent members of the Committee, with such agenda items to be introduced during the National Assembly plenary sessions within 330 days.

As the opposition parties now hold a majority (10 of 16 seats) in the Environmental & Labor Committee, this Committee is now able to make decisions regarding public hearings on particular issues, adopting a resolution for the Standing Committee, ordering the Ministry of Employment & Labor (MOEL) to carry out labor inspections, and summoning witnesses for parliamentary inspections without needing ruling party participation.

Normally Committee secretaries make decisions through consultation with other secretaries regarding the summoning of witnesses for parliamentary inspections. However, the possibility exists that the opposition parties can together force CEOs to act as witnesses.

2. The ruling and opposition parties push forward with legislation of their general election pledges

Leading up to the 20^th general elections, the ruling party’s top pledge was labor reform, while the opposition parties promised to expand the youth employment quota to the private sector, increase the minimum wage, and restrict the use of non-regular workers.

Of the 48 labor-related bills pending in the Environmental & Labor Committee as of the end of June 2016, 42 are from general election pledges and contentious labor bills from the 19^th National Assembly (four bills related to labor reform, Revision on the Protection, Etc. of Fixed-term and Part-time Workers, Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Special Act on the Promotion of Youth Employment)

The ruling party has proposed four labor reform bills (Revision on Act on the Protection, Etc. of Fixed-term and Part-time Workers will be preceded later), which are identical to those submitted during the 19^th National Assembly. The government proposed revisions to the Minimum Wage Act (imposing fines for violating minimum wage law) and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (imposing the obligation on prime contractors to take preventive measures in all workplaces where subcontracting workers work).

The opposition parties are prioritizing a bill on expansion of the youth employment quota to the private sector (3~5%) and have submitted a number of other related bills.

The Minjoo Party proposed revisions to the Minimum Wage Act, to include the minimum wage being determined by the National Assembly. There are two main revisions: j The MOEL submits minimum wage proposals to the National Assembly ” subcommittee of the Environmental & Labor Committee reviews these minimum wage proposals, and k sets the minimum wage in consideration of workers’ current cost of living, including for dependent family members.

As the ruling and opposition parties both proposed bills to expand the use of alternative holidays and setting new national holidays (Parents’ Day and Teachers’ Day), the government also plans to consider fixing one day of the week as a legal holiday to boost domestic consumption.

[Table 1] Major Bills/Revisions Submitted to the 20^th National Assembly