1. Government reconfirms labor reform policies in the second half of the year amid a partial cabinet reshuffle
On 16 August, the Blue House partially reshuffled the Cabinet, replacing three ministers: the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Minister of Environment. The Minister of Employment and Labor, Ki-kweon Lee, remained at his post which implies that the government will continue pushing ahead with its labor reform policies.
The Minister of Employment and Labor, Ki-kweon Lee, noted the possibility of forming a new tripartite dialogue channel for labor reform. Minister Lee participated in the plenary session of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts in the National Assembly on 16 August to explain the difficulties in discussions on labor reform through the Tripartite Commission, and mentioned the necessity of a new dialogue channel at the National Assembly level in which the tripartite members can participate.
With the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) refusing to participate in the tripartite dialogue and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) also unlikely to participate due to the election of a new president in January next year, it is unknown whether a framework for discussion can be formed at the National Assembly level at this time or not.
2. Seoul City continues its pro-labor activities including ‘Seoul City Labor Innovation Plans’
Seoul City announced its ‘Seoul City Labor Innovation Plans’ which will restrict the use of non-regular workers and introduce labor representatives on the boards of directors.
Seoul City will implement these labor innovation plans at its affiliated institutions and sign Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with private companies in order to expand these plans to the private sector. However, Seoul City’s labor innovation plans lack policies to increase the flexibility of labor laws and to decrease the over-protective measures for regular workers and thus create concerns the plans will simply increase unemployment.
[Table 1] Seoul City’s Labor Innovation Plans
|
Areas |
Details |
|
Dual structure of the labor market |
▲ Convert non-regular workers to regular employment for constant/continuous work and life/safety-related work
▲ Reduce the rate of non-regular workers to below 3% by 2018 ▲ Employ non-regular workers only when it is unavoidable (short-term + exceptional circumstances + for minimum number of workers) |
|
Elimination of discrimination & inequality |
▲ Observe the principle of equal pay for work of equal value ▲ Create labor rights inspectors and run a program for inspections |
|
Safety as first priority |
▲ Secure the right of workers to stop work if they deem it unsafe, in accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act |
|
Better working conditions |
▲ Implement and expand a living wage system ▲ Secure a 52-hour work week including restructuring of shift systems |
|
Culture of shared growth |
▲ Introduce labor representatives on the boards of directors ▲ Activate an open labor-management consultative body: subsidiary companies to participate as well |