Job Inheritance

Members of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions shout slogans while raising banners reading
Members of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions shout slogans while raising banners reading "Better Working Condition" during a May Day rally near the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on May 1, 2015.

 

Large corporations’ special treatment for the wives, sons, and daughters of their employees has crossed the line in Korea, along with labor union intervention in management.

According to the Ministry of Employment & Labor, illegal collective bargaining conditions were found in 16 out of the 30 large corporations having labor unions and covered in its recent survey. Each of the 30 corporations recorded at least 10 trillion won (US$9 billion) in sales in 2013, and the group is divided into 18 manufacturers, five financial companies, four in the transportation, warehousing and telecom sectors, and three retailers and wholesalers.

Eleven out of the 30 were found to provide privileges in employment for union members’ families. For example, Hyundai Motor Company granted privileges to a linear ascendant of an employee who injured or passed away at work. In Kia Motors, a linear ascendant of an employee who worked for a long period of time can be given the same privilege. Similar terms were found in the collective bargaining agreements of GM Korea, GS Caltex, SK Innovation, etc. The terms are in violation of various labor laws and limit the freedom to choose a job and the constitutional rights to equality of those not associated with the union members.

In one-third of the 30 corporations, certain labor unions were considered as sole negotiating subjects, regardless of the legal assurance that more than two labor unions can exist in a single company. This is also illegal, since the bargaining rights of the other unions are infringed upon.

The Ministry of Employment & Labor is going to give the corporations a chance to fix the terms by the end of August this year. Corrective orders and punitive measures are then to be imposed on those with no improvements.

In the meantime, the labor unions were found to be capable of intervening in personnel and general management in 14 out of the 30, disciplinary action, job relocation and training in 11, layoff and voluntary retirement in seven, organizational change such as merger and disposal in five, and subcontracting in four. The ministry explained that these could affect employment stability and enterprise competitiveness by slowing down the response to business environmental changes.

However, the labor community is also opposed to the government’s intervention in the terms voluntarily agreed upon by itself and the employers. The community and the government have already collided with each other surrounding the wage peak issue. “We recently examined ourselves but could not find any specific case of job handover,” the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions remarked in its statement on June 24, adding, “What the government is trying to do now is to take our rights away by deceiving the public into thinking that our collective bargaining terms are against the law.”

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