1. 2017 FKTU leadership election
The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) will hold its presidential election in January 2017. The president of the Federation of Korean Public Industry Trade Unions, Mr. Joo-young Kim, has already been nominated as a presidential candidate. Mr. Dong-man Kim (incumbent president of the FKTU), Mr. Moon-ho Kim (president of the Korean Financial Industry Union, or the KFIU), and Mr. Man-jae Kim (president of the Federation of Korean Metal Workers’ Trade Unions) are likely to also run in the election.
Securing support from the conservative camp in the Korean Federation of Port & Transport Workers’ Unions (KFPTWU) and unification of candidates from the KFIU are important variables in the upcoming election.
The FKTU is planning to work on its election schedule through an election administration commission. Candidates are expected to seek to present impressions as strong leaders by taking a hard stance against the government.
2. Anxiety related to performance-based wage systems in the public sector
The Joint Public Sector Committee under the two umbrella unions held a general strike at the end of September. The Korean Railway Workers’ Union (KRWU) under the Korean Public Service & Transport Workers’ Union (affiliates of the KCTU) has been on strike since September.
The Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) insists that performance-based wage systems should be adopted as was decided by its board of directors. However, the KRWU argues that adoption still needs agreement between labor and management, since the wage system will be changed. The strike will continue with the failure to establish a committee to discuss performance-based wage systems in the National Assembly, and rupture of the negotiations between Korail and the KRWU.
The Joint Committee is planning to file a nullity suit against and request an injunction to suspend the decision of the board, which states that performance-based wage systems shall be adopted in 52 public institutions by the end of December. It will take a considerable amount of time until the Supreme Court makes a final ruling, so lawsuits like this will remain a factor of anxiety in industrial relations as they did during the struggles over the scope of ordinary wage.
3. Prolonged wage and collective bargaining at workplaces
The progress rate (rate of settlement) of wage decisions reached 55.7%, with the average collectively-agreed rate of wage increase at 3.4% (as of the end of October 2016).
Collective bargaining this year is taking longer than last year* due to the 20th National Assembly general elections, wage and collective bargaining take place at the same time on even-numbered years (2016), and issues regarding reforms of wage systems such as introduction of performance-based systems.
* Progress rate (rate of settlement) of wage decisions was 63.9% by this time last year, with the average collectively-agreed rate of wage increase at 4.0%.
Wage and collective bargaining in both the financial and shipbuilding industry are also being prolonged by issues surrounding layoffs. In particular, bargaining in the financial industry is not going smoothly with a possibility that industry-level bargaining will not start, and with enhancement of performance-based wage system.
The KFIU is demanding industry-level bargaining in which every member of the Financial Industry Employers’ Council (FIEC) participates. However, the FIEC has stated that it is very difficult to engage in industry-level bargaining since a number of people have withdrawn their membership from the Council.
The Big 3 shipbuilders are struggling to conclude their collective agreements as well. Despite 53 bargaining sessions (as of 7 November), Hyundai Heavy Industries Group (HHIG) has not concluded an agreement because of the different views regarding major agenda items such as layoffs and frequency of strikes. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) halted negotiations for leadership elections in their respective union/labor council. The 2 shipbuilders recently resumed negotiations with the leadership elections completed.