Trade Unions Reforming
A tripartite agreement for the restructuring of the Korean labor market was concluded on Sept. 13. However, a number of experts point out that the agreement is far from sufficient to reform trade unions of conglomerates.
The government insisted on a concession on the part of the larger labor unions in order to narrow gaps between such unions and those of small firms. However, the insistence merely resulted in a voluntary restraint on wage increases to be applied to the top 10 percent of employees in terms of earned income. Besides, pay system reform, one of the hottest issues that caused a series of strikes, is likely to take more time, with employers and employees having decided to deal with the issue with more discussion.
This has to do with the larger trade unions’ strikes that follow one after another as of late, irrespective of the great compromise. In particular, the trade union of Hyundai Motor Company is dead set against the introduction of a wage peak, although wage peaks are to be brought in through long-term negotiations.
At present, only 10.3 percent of the 18.2 million employees in Korea are associated with labor unions, and few small and medium enterprises have trade unions.